Each and every year, farmers get poor harvests because they planted the wrong varieties in their regions. Before you try and new variety, if you had never grown it before, isolate a small portion of land and observe how it grows into full production. When sure that the variety can do well in your region. This avoids the risk of planting new varieties without the…
By Pauline Kairu In the first decade of the 20th century, two German chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch developed a way to produce synthetic nitrogen cheaply and on a large scale. The agricultural industry fell in love with the chemical. Today, according to the United Nations, approximately 250 million tonnes of nitrogen are used around the world. Now, experts say, nitrogen, which is ubiquitous…
Cereal Growers Association (CGA) a national farmer membership based organization in partnership with Fert (a French non- governmental organization supported by French farmer organizations, have partnered to strengthen the cereal value chain, initially in 5 counties Kenya. This will involve the formation of a Cereal County platform (or where one exists, strengthening it). The platform will be utilized to improve services to our members in…
By Michael Zappa Below are technologies related to agricultural and natural manufacturing under four key areas of accelerating change: Sensors, Food, Automation and Engineering. Sensors help agriculture by enabling real-time traceability and diagnosis of crop, livestock and farm machine states. Food may benefit directly from genetic tailoring and potentially from producing meat directly in a lab. Automation will help agriculture via large-scale robotic and microrobots…
Vegetables out of thin air? Learn more about this environmentally-friendly approach to food production. Aeroponics Defined Aeroponic systems nourish plants with nothing more than nutrient-laden mist. The concept builds off that of hydroponic systems, in which the roots are held in a soilless growing medium, such as coco coir, over which nutrient-laden water is periodically pumped. Aeroponics simply dispenses with the growing medium, leaving the…
Sorghum is steadily becoming one of the highest potential cereals in Kenya, especially in the semi-arid areas. This is due to its drought-resistant nature and the availability of a ready market. East Africa Maltings Limited (EAML) places its current annual demand at 40,000 MT. Out of the 40,000MT, only about 15,000 MT is being sourced from Kenyan growers. Despite this readily available market and stable…
The levying of Agriculture Produce Cess (APC) is one the most significant barrier to trade for agricultural producers across the country. A study conducted by Dr Daniel K. Karugu in 2017 revealed that multiple and high agricultural cess rates were being charged arbitrarily and with no justification for the rates applied across different counties. Even though the payment of APC is reported to have been…
The planting season is one of the most expensive times for farmers in the cropping calendar. Farmers must dig deeper into their pockets for seeds and fertilizer. All this with the escalating cost of farm inputs, notwithstanding. Data from our wheat farmers register for example confirms an average wheat production rate of fifteen 90kg bags an acre. There is however the potential for farmers to…
