Groundnuts and soybeans are a priority grains value chain with highest potential to increase the incomes and impact livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Butere-Mumias, within Kakamega County of western Kenya. This is according to a survey done by the Kenya Agricultural Productivity Project (KAPP) in the region. Butere-Mumias with a population of 601,796 (Kenya Population …
Most farmers across the country remain unaware that soil acidity reduces crop yield by almost 50 per cent regardless the amount of fertilizer you use. This poses a major threat to the agricultural sector– the country’s economic backbone. Through a comparison done on farms where liming was applied production doubled, a small holder farmer in …
KALRO informs soil liming can double crop yields, launches farmer handbook Read More »
From reported early maize harvests, the government projects that the country will have a great harvest of over 40 million bags for the long rains season alone. This is more than the entirety of the 2021 production year (36.7 million bags). State officials say this owes greatly to the government’s subsidised fertiliser program that has …
Govt projects bumper 40M maize bag harvest owing to subsidised fertiliser Read More »
President William Ruto today announced the commencement of the second phase of the government’s agriculture subsidy program with the price of a 50-kilogram bag of fertliser now retailing at Sh2,500 down from Sh3,500. He pointed out that yesterday, Tuesday, a record 34,000 bags of this subsidised fertiliser was sold to farmers. For the coming short …
President announces Sh2,500 fertiliser price, outlines bright future for agriculture Read More »
A drought tolerant crops project in the vastly dry Mtito Andei area is assisting farmers sow and reap from the desert with farmers earning upto Sh100,00 from sale of crops that would ordinarily not even sprout in the area. Mary Kyalo one such farmer has been planting pigeon peas, maize and beans, but often times …
Drought Tolerant Crops Project Assists Arid Farmers Get Bumper Harvest Read More »
Over 50,000 smallholder farmers in Eastern and Central Kenya are recording a more than doubling of yields and reduced soil erosion after embracing a soil conservation scheme that involves digging trenches in hillsides to trap runaway water and soil. The scheme christened Fanya Juu which is practiced in areas with low or high rainfall involves …
Fanya Juu terraces guard soil erosion, double farmer yields 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 »
By George Munene The Kenya Meteorological Department has advised farmers to plant early maturing and drought-resistant varieties of crops, fodder, and pasture as it warns of a fifth consecutive unsuccessful rainy season over the October-November-December (OND) 2022 short rains season. According to its just-released report ‘The Climate Outlook for the October-November-December (OND) 2022 “Short Rains” …
By George Munene According to a guide on The Use Of Urine In Crop Production by the Stockholm Environment Institute, urine is a well-balanced nitrogen-rich fertilizer that can replace and normally gives the same yields as chemical fertilisers in crop production. In field research done in Burkina Faso, the yields from urine-fertilized crops did not …
Human urine gives equal crop yields to chemical fertilisers Read More »
The chronically acidic soils of Western Kenya has meant endless woes to the farmers in the area, but a new method of applying lime to the tired soils is changing fortunes and rekindling hope to thousands of farmers who had abandoned farming. In 2008, Isaac Ochieng Okwangi from Nyangera, Siaya harvested just two 90kg bags …
Liming improves yields of depleted Western Kenya soils Read More »
