Markets

A Kirinyaga farmer is earning Sh190,000 from his eighth-acre plot every four months after pivoting from growing low-earning bananas and sugarcane to thorned melons. Stanley Thuranira has set aside an eighth of his four-acre piece of land in Kutus to grow the African thorned melon. Towards the end of August, September, October, and early November […]

The introduction of silkworms feeding on drought-tolerant castor plants has opened year-round earnings for farmers in Kenya’s arid and semi-arid areas from the world’s most in-demand textile. Castor plant leaves provide the perfect food for Samia ricini or Philosamia ricini silkworms which make eri silk. According to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) information

Kenyan farmers could soon be producing stevia– a high-earning herb with the fastest growing market in the world– for export as the leading global stevia producer is rumoured to be returning to Kenya. FarmBizAfrica reveals the tough journey that collapsed three partners’ first foray into the Kenyan market. The global stevia market has grown by

An intermediary for Italian Energy company Eni is recruiting 500 castor farmers in arid Ukambani to earn money from growing the drought-tolerant weed that thrives in ‘unusable land’ and has a three-month earning timeline. According to the International Energy Agency, castor seeds are pressed for biofuel whose demand is set to increase by a third

A new Omena trading app is looking to revolutionise the Kenya omena market by breaking the reliance on brokers for omena fishermen and drying women, a move that could triple their earnings. Omena fishing is only done in Lake Victoria and the omena value chain employs more than two million people in Kenya. Omena or

Kenyan farmers lose up to 40 per cent of their onions after harvest because of poor curing seeing most brokers prioritise well-cured and dried Tanzanian onions. According to research, Kenyan farmers lose 40–60 percent of the value of their onions after harvest. This is because they do not give them the required week to two

The Agriculture and Food Authority of Kenya has compiled a list of 658 registered agriculture exporters who work with farmers helping them earn 20-30 per cent more than those who farm for local markets. Per data from the World Bank, up to 98 per cent of farmers who export their produce access international markets through

Experienced onion growers are returning to previously shunned ‘local’ onion seeds for their smaller size, which is preferred by buyers for home cooking, and for their low production cost. According to Starke Ayres Kenya’s managing director Josphat Njoroge, the country’s onion seed market in the last few years has gone from being made of 90

Sorghum farmers are earning up to 15 shillings more a kilo after switching from growing the grain for East African Breweries Limited to being contracted farmers for seed producers.  On her 10-acre farm in Nkubu, Meru County, Jacinta Nkirote grows various varieties of sorghum and cowpeas for the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO).

The market for Stevia is set to increase at three times the pace of most other herbs and spices in the next five years as consumers demand a natural and healthier replacement for regular sugar which causes high blood pressure, weight gain, diabetes, and liver disease.  According to a HealthFocus International 2024 study, for 56