In a small village in Nyanza area, a farm has caught villagers attention and attracted thousands of visitors from as far as Nairobi keen on learning how it manages to produce bountiful harvest with no fertilizer applied. Yet this is a journey Caleb Omolo, the owner of the farm, has walked through to prove to …
Fertiliser-free Kisumu Farm Provides Blueprint for Permaculture Farming in Kenya Read More »
Farmers growing traditional crops like maize side by side with legumes are recording more than double increase in yields and cutting down on fertilizer spend as legumes fertilize the soils at 20 percent more than synthetic fertilizers. While farmers have long intercropped legumes like beans, cowpeas, groundnuts and pigeon peas with maize and millet, it …
Legume inter-cropping doubles traditional crop performance Read More »
Farmers in the deluge prone Bunyala area of Budalangi who have traditionally lost their harvest due to incessant floods are now assured of safety of their harvests thanks to community granaries that are built on dry areas. The granaries, built through pooling together of resources by local farmers, ensure that anytime farmers harvest they place …
Communal granaries help farmers preserve produce Read More »
The rise in temperatures due to climate change is leading to the proliferation of the coffee berry borer, one of the crop’s most devastating pests, leading to losses in coffee production at a time when coffee has started to gain its lost glory, scientists at International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology have warned. Researchers …
Rising temperatures lead to proliferation of coffee diseases Read More »
Sallholder farmers in Kenya are embracing planting trees that do not compete with crops for nutrients a venture that is paying off with some of the trees even fertilizing the soils while offering the farmers extra income. The practice known as agroforestry has been championed by government and other agricultural institutions as having returned impressive …
Smallholder farmers use trees to fertilize soils & extra income Read More »
By George Munene According to a report by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agriculture Office, Kenya’s maize harvests will remain unchanged this year due to a 71 per cent rise in fertilizer prices and the emergence of more lucrative alternative crops. Per the report, rice production is forecast to increase by 12 …
By George. P. Munene Thanks to the International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), headquartered in Nairobi, and aided by Kenya’s ideal climate, many insect farming startups are finding the country fertile ground in this new farming frontier. According to Dr. Tanga Chrysantus, Head of ICIPE’s Insects for Food, Feed, and Other Uses (INSEFF) …
Kenya leads charge in emergent million-dollar insect farming business Read More »
By George Munene Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) has announced a plan to invest Sh5M into the Upper Tana Nairobi Water Fund (UTNWF). The partnership will help finance small-scale farmers to acquire 50 drip irrigation kits, 500 water pans, and 20 biodigesters. 50,000 farmers will also be supported in carrying out conservation agriculture on their farms. …
For Joseph Njuguna a farmer in Nyandarua, farming was a typical exercise of planting and waiting for crops to grow. It was until a visit by the extension officers that he took farming seriously and has now managed to turn his farm into a cash cow. Having land adjacent to Aberdare forest meant that he was …
Information key driver to improved farmer income Read More »
