Farmer who has created chicken feed out of common pond weeds cutting feed costs by 40 per cent has won nearly Sh1M in cash for his inspiration and innovation.
Samuel Kimani, the founder of Azolla and Duckweed Poultry Meal, beat out 800 other applicants to be announced as the 2024 AYuTe Africa Challenge Kenya winner on Friday (22nd, November, 2024). He grows the two water crops, azolla and duckweed on homemade ponds, then harvests, dries, and supplies tons of the high-protein feeds to poultry farmers in Nyandarua County.
Feeds make up to 80 per cent of the total costs of poultry keeping for most farmers in Kenya. According to Infonet Biovision farmers who reduce these costs to 50 to 60 per cent stand the best chance of making good money from poultry farming. Azolla and duckweed do just this by replacing the crude protein found in fish and soybean meal which make up about 55 per cent and 45 per cent of chicken feed respectively.
Scientists have identified the two water plants as among the most promising replacements for poultry because they are simple to grow, are highly productive on a small pool of water, and have a high nutritive value.
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Azolla and duckweed meals have been able to substitute 15 per cent of the poultry feed in broiler chicken and up to 40 per cent in layers while increasing the amount of eggs chickens produced by five per cent.
Duckweed has seven to 40 per cent protein when dried. Azolla for its part has up to 35 per cent protein when dry. The amount of protein in the plant is determined by what is in the water it is grown in and the variety of duckweed or azolla used. They are rich in minerals, vitamins, amino acids, and carotenoids which are crucial components of a chicken’s feed.
One hectare of azolla gives 540 to 720 kilograms of protein every month while on one hectare of duckweed, a farmer can harvest 10 to 20 tons of dry matter every year.
Samuel, who sun dries his harvested water ferns for hours before transporting them to farmers, plans to first use his winnings to acquire a solar-powered dryer. “Right now it takes me an entire week to dry the azolla and duckweed I harvest. Once I reduce this time to just a couple of hours this will fix my biggest challenge in scaling the business,” he said.
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At the prize-giving ceremony held at Serena Hotel, Florence Kimata, the board chair at Heifer International Kenya– the competition’s main backers– said that Samuel’s need for a solar drier to move his business to the next step was the sort of solution the competition sought to offer. “We are looking to solve the challenges of a lack of access to finance and inadequate training faced by young promising agriculture innovators across Africa. We specifically fund companies that are less than three years old which is when most startups fail,” she said.
According to the Azolla Foundation, poultry fed on azolla and duckweed also produced eggs with a much more yellow yolk which are much more in demand by egg buyers.