Environmental Impact

Report: Kenyan farmers use Highly Hazardous Pesticides despite known dangers

Leave a Comment / Pest Control

According to a report, “Toxic Business: Highly Hazardous Pesticides In Kenya”, released today (13th September 2023) Kenyan farmers predominantly use Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs), despite their known detrimental effects on human health and the environment. Pesticide residues have been found to exceed limits in Kenyan food, particularly tomatoes, and kale. The study conducted by Route …

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Research shows aloe vera peels useful as natural insecticide

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Research has shown that disposed aloe vera peels can be used as a natural insecticide to safeguard staple foods from insects. Dr. Debasish Bandyopadhyay, a physiologist at the University of Calcutta, and his colleagues showed how aloe vera peels can act as a natural insecticide, staving off insects from crops such as maize or millet. …

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Fact Sheet: Tackling the Growing Problem of Heat Stress in Livestock

Leave a Comment / Smart farms

Smallholder farmers in the developing world should be implementing cheap and readily available solutions such as silvopastoralism, the provision of sheds, and crossbreeding to tackle the growing problem of heat stress in livestock. It is estimated that seven per cent of global cattle is affected by heat stress, a number that could rise to 65 …

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Solar milk pasteurizer improves smallholder farmer profits

Leave a Comment / Tools

Using a solar milk pas­teur­izer, small­holder farm­ers seek­ing to min­im­ize milk losses along the mar­ket­ing chain es­pe­cially in the arid and semi-arid lands has been de­veloped by the Kenya Ag­ri­cul­tural and Live­stock Re­search Or­gan­iz­a­tion.  The new tech­no­logy will help milk farm­ers and busi­ness vendors pro­long the shelf life of milk and hence im­prove mar­ket- abil­ity …

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Dryland farmers increase milk, lower cost through camel & goat dairy farming

Leave a Comment / Yields

Farmers in north sub-Saharan Africa’s drylands are able to raise milk production with lower inputs by shifting from cattle to camel and goat farming. The report outlined that increasing goat and camel populations by 14 per cent (7.7 million) and 10 per cent (1.2 million), respectively while reducing the dairy cattle population by 24 per …

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African armyworm

Sex trap tame devastating African armyworm

Leave a Comment / Pest Control

The African armyworm, scientifically known as Spodoptera exempta, is a particularly devastating pest. An early warn­ing sys­tem using traps that fake the smell of mat­ing fe­male moths has de­livered a break­through in coun­ter­ing the spread of the army­worm, which can move into an area and dev­ast­ate en­tire crops. The over 2 mil­lion farm­ers in Kenya …

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Smallholder farmers use trees to fertilize soils & extra income

Leave a Comment / Agroforestry

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 …

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Mwea company turns rice waste to 3X cheaper high yield organic fertiliser

Leave a Comment / Smart farms, Yields

By George Munene Based in Mwea, Safi Organics turns rice husks into organic fertiliser that is two to three times cheaper than store-bought fertilisers but gives up to 30 per cent more yield. “A bag of DAP fertiliser currently retails at Sh7,000 and is predicted to rise even higher by the end of the month, …

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BSF

Kenya leads charge in emergent million-dollar insect farming business

Leave a Comment / Market, Smart farms

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) …

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