tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63026031930963033232024-03-13T19:57:12.640-07:00smattakenyaSmattaKenya is a platform I use to tell stories about Kenya and Africa the way through my eyes.Of course there are times when i get involved in the affairs and give my own opinion.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-20524625556209628452014-08-27T07:29:00.001-07:002014-08-27T07:29:59.486-07:00Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-83413374115598706992014-05-27T02:04:00.000-07:002014-05-27T02:04:02.230-07:00Even in agriculture families rock!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aswiYdqdUuI/U4RUkKwfuYI/AAAAAAAACJY/DBG-O8sdqBU/s1600/FAO-Infographic-IYFF14-en.jpg" /></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-63428388103971476572014-05-25T22:32:00.001-07:002014-08-27T07:30:30.981-07:00Uganda’s Coffee agribusiness incubator<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Coffee <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>farming in Africa <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is being overtaken<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>need<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>real estate<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>more and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>more<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>people<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>uprooting their<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>trees to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>build<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>residential apartments.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://simonrawles.photoshelter.com/img/pixel.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://simonrawles.photoshelter.com/img/pixel.gif" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://dailycoffeenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Uganda-coffee-farmers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://dailycoffeenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Uganda-coffee-farmers.jpg" height="260" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>growing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>demand<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>urban and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>semi urban<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>living coffee<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>farmers<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>tired<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of meager <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>earnings<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>from bonuses <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are opting out<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of the trade.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In my view<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it is solely because<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>farmers have left the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>whole coffee<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>value chains to the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hands<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>companies, and cooperatives who are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>supposed to collect the berries in bulk<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>fetching<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>better prices.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The outcome is that more people do not get the
value of their investments and end up getting mere peanuts<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for bonuses at the end of the year.</span></div>
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<a href="http://simonrawles.photoshelter.com/img/pixel.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://simonrawles.photoshelter.com/img/pixel.gif" /></a></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Uganda however is taking a better
approach to this challenge with the launch of an agribusiness incubator focused
on the coffee value chain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Not only will this<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>help farmers learn how to add<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>value<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to
their berries<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>they<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>will also<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>be<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>equipped with<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>entrepreneurship<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>skills to better understand market<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>demands.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
The country provider popular Robusta beans, used in French
and Italian roasts.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-7861186016577909192014-05-23T00:36:00.003-07:002014-05-23T00:36:35.760-07:00Donkey milk please!!<br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thebrooke.org/__data/assets/image/0003/46884/RS-7272-Donkeys-at-work-in-Kenya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.thebrooke.org/__data/assets/image/0003/46884/RS-7272-Donkeys-at-work-in-Kenya.jpg" height="311" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Donkeys carry water containers in Kenya. ©The Brooke</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For this reason the donkey has been branded a beast of burden the
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>recommendation
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Food and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Agriculture<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>organization that donkey<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>milk<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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</span>of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>cow<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>milk and other dairy products<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>certain to make<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>donkey<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>owners<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>more<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>kind<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>their<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>animals.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The UN
food<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>agency<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>late<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>last
year recommended more usage of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>milk<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a
variety of animals including<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>camels, llamas
and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>donkeys<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>due to the increasing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>high milk prices<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>especially in the world.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Apart from goat, sheep<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and buffalos that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>currently
being kept in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>different parts<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of the world<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>provision of milk Fao recommends<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alpaca, Moose, Reindeer and Yaks can also<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>be<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>milked.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01676/Camel_Milk_1676595c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01676/Camel_Milk_1676595c.jpg" height="250" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="ingCaptionCredit">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="caption">A camel herder milks one of his camels in Oman</span> <span class="credit">Photo: ALAMY</span></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Rapid urbanization
in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Africa and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>growing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>middle class<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>means that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>more<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>people are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>having an increase in their<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>disposable income<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and as a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>result<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>can a afford a change of
lifestyle eating more<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>diary and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>meat<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>products.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Fao predicts<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>by<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>2025 diary consumption in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>developing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>countries<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>will grow by<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>25<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>per<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>cent<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>because<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>population growth and rising
incomes and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>cow milk<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which most people are currently<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>dependent on will not be<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>sufficient to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>supple<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>most<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>vulnerable households.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Consumption of
camel milk has been growing Ethiopia, Mali and Somalia and the trend is quickly
picking up in Kenya. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With their milk being fronted as more nutritious and
healthy. Though it is not for the fainthearted, you will have a thoroughly cleansed
stomach before your intestines get used to the milk.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/00864/14vjsub01_Mad_craze_864640e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/00864/14vjsub01_Mad_craze_864640e.jpg" height="272" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Making a quick buck: A woman selling donkey milk to slum dwellers in Vijayawada. — PHOTO: V.RAJU
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Its popularity
has vastly spread that it is not common for one to order camel milk tea of the
menu in a restaurant in Nairobi. Am guessing though in the next five years we
will be doing the same for donkeys?</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-5368429775509367692014-05-19T07:01:00.000-07:002014-05-19T07:01:38.486-07:00Teach a man to fish and you feed him for life<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.nafis.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/fish-farming3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.nafis.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/fish-farming3.jpg" height="228" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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Fish is a delicacy the world over but according to a new report
by FAO, harmful practices and poor<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>management<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>are a threat to
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fisheries and aquaculture sector.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Over the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>years<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>production<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>from the sector<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>has been<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>increasing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>gradually<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the total production in 2012<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>estimated at<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>158 million tones.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In Kenya fish farming has gained popularity at the grass
root level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the tenure of President
Mwai Kibaki, fish farming was promoted within the constituencies under the
economic stimulus program as a way of providing locals with not only an alternative
source of food but also a different source of income.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the introduction
of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>counties under the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>new<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>constitution
that was adopted by the country in 2010,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Governors and other<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>county
leadership have<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fronted<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fish<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>farming in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>areas<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>where<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the meal<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">not</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> an<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>indigenous
delicacy.</div>
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Recently a member of parliament<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from central Kenya <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>offered<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>public<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>training<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on how to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>breed and cook<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fish and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>some of the constituents ended up
fighting<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for the pieces that had
been<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>pan-fried. </div>
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This attests<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to
the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/097d8007-49a4-4d65-88cd-fcaf6a969776/" target="_blank">State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2014 report </a>which<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>show that<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>most of the growth in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>sector
is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>driven<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by small scale farming.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Fish now accounts for almost 17 percent of the global
population’s intake of protein -- in some coastal and island countries it can
top 70 percent.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The sector also supports the livelihoods of 10–12 percent of
the world’s population meaning if our water systems are managed well there
is<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>even a greater potential of job
creation.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The report also notes that illegal, unreported and
unregulated (IUU) fishing remains a major threat to marine ecosystems and also
impacts negatively on livelihoods, local economies and food supplies.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, <a href="http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/231522/icode/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social+media&utm_campaign=FAOnews&utm_content=gk" target="_blank">teach him how to fish you feed him for life</a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-12668879013950949052014-05-11T23:31:00.001-07:002014-05-11T23:31:13.270-07:00Schooling African women farmers will boost agricultural productivity<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
The whole world is racing against time trying to find ways of boosting food
production for the global population expected to double by 2050.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://womennewsnetwork.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/039-MALI_womanfarmerImageF.FiondellaIRI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://womennewsnetwork.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/039-MALI_womanfarmerImageF.FiondellaIRI.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rural woman farmer Mali works her land. Kaidia Samaké’s village has
formed a women’s association that helps women who are working in
agriculture in the region with jobs and small loans. Image: F.
Fiondella/IRI</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Questions as to whether genetically modified foods can assist in reducing
the hefty burden have been raised attracting support and critics in equal
measure.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there is a new school of thought
in town. If a majority of the farming carried out in the continent is done on
small scale farming and undertaken mostly by the women in these households, why
not empower them with all the agricultural information available.<br />
<br />
<br />
One of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the continent’s greatest
scholars, Prof. Calestous Juma is advocating for higher technical training for African
women farmers arguing that it is the only way that the continent can make agriculture<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>an engine for the region’s development.<br />
<br />
<br />
This he says will not only build Africa’s capacity to feed itself but also
become an important player in global food trade.<br />
<br />
<br />
A good case study that he gives is the African Rural University (ARU) for
women inaugurated in Kibaale district of western Uganda in 2011. The sole purpose
is to train women focusing on rural development and entrepreneurship.<br />
<br />
<br />
And<a href="http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/655442-university-for-women-key-to-africa-agriculture.html?utm_content=buffer97080&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer" target="_blank"> I agree with him.</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.aru.ac.ug/images/stories/aru%20campus%206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.aru.ac.ug/images/stories/aru%20campus%206.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong> African Rural University (ARU)'s Administration block</strong></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Women in rural parts of any country on the continent spend most of their day
on the farm and while they provide the intensive labour they hardly reap any rewards
as most times it is the men who get the dividends and booms from sale of cash
crops into their accounts.<br />
<br />
<br />
Many of these women are uneducated and still rely on the traditional ways of
farming that their grandparents used yet the weather and agricultural systems
have not stayed constant.<br />
<br />
<br />
If we<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>give these<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>women the much needed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>knowledge in using better seed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Varieties and animal breeds<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>then we are on step closer<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to reducing the agricultural p0roductivity
of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>our land.<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-86410647768461981812014-05-05T03:17:00.002-07:002014-05-05T03:17:48.073-07:00Building better breeds the community way in Ethiopia<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Livestock is considered one of the main
contributors to the GDP of African countries and as such their health and productivity
are of great importance.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Livestock farmers are constantly looking for
higher quality breeds whose increased productivity equals greater financial
returns.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">While crop farmers are more open to
higher yielding varieties introduced by research institutions, animal keepers
are less accommodative to such ‘lab breeds’.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">More often than not farmers tend to borrow
from one another the fattened bull or ram for a week in order to service their
females </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">It is no wonder that the community based
breeding programs introduced in some rural communities in Ethiopia have begun
yielding tremendous results.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cgiar.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Story-1_ILRI-sheep-in-Ethiopia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.cgiar.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Story-1_ILRI-sheep-in-Ethiopia.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picture courtesy Charlie Pye-Smith/<a href="http://www.ilri.org/">ILRI</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The International Center for Agricultural
Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), the International Livestock Research
Institute (ILRI), the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU),
and partners from the National Agricultural Research System are implementing breeding
programs in Bonga, Horro and Menz with three different sheep breeds.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The project is aimed at improving the
productivity of the sheep and increasing the incomes for the 360 households. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Initially the superior variety of rams<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>were identified<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from among the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>farmers<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>and which could be<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>exchanged in
order<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to breed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>more value<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>animals.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The animals identified by local community
members are then exchanged by farmers within a cooperative based on an agreed
upon model.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The committee checks at the conformation,
color, horn type, tail type and other criteria in decision making.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
a farmer with a prized ram wishes the cooperative is at liberty to purchase it
in order to continue sharing the valued traits.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">More details of the project can be gotten <a href="http://livestockfish.cgiar.org/2014/05/02/cbbp-ethiopia/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter" target="_blank">here </a>or </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 20.0pt; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">download </span>the <a href="https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/35466/ethiopia_cbbp_apr2014.pdf?sequence=1" target="_blank">breeding productivity report </a></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-33299791529564189202014-04-22T01:12:00.000-07:002014-04-22T01:13:12.225-07:00Mobile app provides forecasts for Rwandan coffee farmers<br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Technology is great! It helps you do stuff you never thought you would
be able to and in quite a short time. </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">In the sphere of agriculture technology
has helped improve the quality of seeds and enable farmers easily access
extension services and increase their productivity.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.technoserve.org/files/images/country_images/our-work_where-we-work_africa_kenya_hero2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.technoserve.org/files/images/country_images/our-work_where-we-work_africa_kenya_hero2.jpg" height="235" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Rwandan coffee <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>farmers are<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>set to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>get<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a boost<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fight<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>against<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>coffee rust with the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>creation of
a mobile app created<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by a startup incubated
at<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ESA in the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>UK.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://cdn.phys.org/newman/gfx/news/2014/growing_more_coffee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.phys.org/newman/gfx/news/2014/growing_more_coffee.jpg" height="216" width="320" /></a><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>app<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>will enable the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>coffee <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>farmers<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>protect and improve their<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>crops<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by providing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>highly localized weather<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>forecasts helping them make<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the best<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>decisions at the right time.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The hyper local forecasts can alert farmers to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>changes in rain patterns and any disease
threat. </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The weather safe coffee farmer edition app can run on multiple mobile software
like Apple ios, Android and Blackberry.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">For more information</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.innovateuk.org/-/hackathon-success-for-weathersafe" target="_blank"><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> https://www.innovateuk.org/-/hackathon-success-for-weathersafe</span></i></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://phys.org/news/2014-03-mobile-app-weather-rwandan-coffee.html"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">http://phys.org/news/2014-03-mobile-app-weather-rwandan-coffee.html</span></a></span></i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-62157773786625567392014-04-14T06:13:00.000-07:002014-04-14T06:13:18.732-07:00The heavens come pouringThe long rains are finally here with us. Yes many parts of Kenya are indeed wet. infact last week there were flash floods in certain parts of the country as a result of the heavy rains.<br />
<br />
It is good news all over, even farmers who were holding onto their maize stocks are now selling in preparation for the new planting season.<br />
<br />
Kenya like many African countries is dependent on rain fed agriculture meaning that the onset of the long rains is a relief for the country's break baskets and strategic grain reserves.<br />
<br />
Last year, the poor performance of maize, (the staple food) left a shortage of 10 million bags. The poor performance was evidence in other traditional sources like Tanzania and Malawi which we trade with to supplement our deficits.<br />
<br />
It is this background that has got me thinking, the rainfall we had last year was part of the attributes for the poor maize production, how do we make this planting season different.<br />
<br />
While there are many rain harvesting techniques employed on small scale mainly by non governmental organizations in arid and semiarid parts of the country many farmers have left their produce at the mercies of the gods, so to speak.<br />
<br />
If it rains, the food production will be enough for subsistence use and sale, if the rains are below average we suffer food shortage.<br />
<br />
The long and short of it is that with the increasing threat of climate change we need to think away from rainfed agriculture.<br />
<br />
What technologies whether simple or complex can be employed to ensure that farmer productivity is not grossly affected.<br />
<br />
Should we dig more boreholes or use rooftop water harvesting systems? Is it possible to dig dip trenches along the farm borders to trap rain water?<br />
<br />
I am not an expert in this neither am I in a capacity to recommend technologies. What I do know for certain is if we do not find and implement technologies on larger scales that work for farmers then we risk being caught in the endless cycle of drought and famine.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-33931333295285138822014-04-02T23:58:00.002-07:002014-04-02T23:58:55.817-07:00Modern farming technologies coined to attract youth to agriculture<h2 class="title">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span>The
Youth Agro Environment Initiative, a non-governmental organisation
based in Nairobi is training young people on modern farming technologies
that can enable graduate but unemployed youth to earn a living.</span></span></span></span></h2>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>One
of the crops that they chose for this project is the arrowroot which
has traditionally been grown near water bodies due to its high water
consumption. </span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span></span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>The
scarcity of water and dwindling water sources has discouraged many
young farmers. It is cumbersome to practice this type of farming</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>The
Youth Agro Environment Initiative is now educating farmers how to grow
the arrowroots in uplands – far from the river – and still get good
yields.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Grace
Wanene, the project co-ordinator and head trainer, notes that farmers
should first remove weeds from the land. “You then dig a one metre wide
trench that is 60 centimetres deep and line its base with a polythene
sheet,” she says. </span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>In
order to ensure that the arrow roots enjoy conditions similar to those
grown along river banks, Wanene states that farmers should irrigate them
once a week. They should also, mulch the land during dry seasons so as
to prevent water loss through evaporation.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Wanene
explains that the polythene sheet is a heavy gauge material that does
not let water through. It therefore ensures that the soil is water
logged – just as on riverbanks – which provides a suitable environment
for proper growing of arrowroots. </span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">“<span>With
this technology, young people can comfortably grow these arrowroots
anywhere they want to and generate income,” says Wanene.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>She
adds that using irrigation also enables farmers to grow the crops and
harvest all year round. “This can’t happen if you plant the arrowroots
near rivers as water levels keep fluctuating depending on rainfall
patterns.”</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Wanene advises farmers to use the appropriate arrowroot suckers when growing them in uplands. She cites one type known as C</span><span><em>olossia Esculena</em></span><span>
which is high yielding and consumes less water. “But if such varieties
are not available. Farmers can still use what is present in their area,”
she says.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Arrow
root tubers cost between three to ten Kenyan shillings. About one
hundred of them can fit in a ten metres by ten metres piece of land.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>The
plant matures after about six months and once farmers have harvested
the arrowroots, they can use the ensuing tubers as planting material for
the next season.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Wanene
notes that with this technology, arrowroots can be grown near
homesteads where they are more secure. “Those grown near rivers are at
risk of destruction by floods especially during intense rainfall,” she
says.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>The
Youth Agro Environment Initiative is currently piloting this project
with ten Youth groups in Gatundu and plans to scale it up in the entire
Central Kenya region.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>The
initiative is assisting the youth groups to set up demonstration plots
through training and financial support. “Once they harvest, the proceeds
are then used to set up plots for each member within the group,” says
Wanene. </span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>She
adds that this approach addresses two key challenges that youth keen on
starting agribusiness face: lack of capital and knowledge on modern
technologies.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Wanene
notes that most young people often fail to succeed in their first
attempt at farming, thus they may be unable to repay money borrowed from
banks. “So we are giving them loans which they repay by establishing
plots for fellow youth.”</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>In
Kenya, agriculture accounts for about 26 per cent of the gross domestic
product (GDP) and over 60 per cent of total foreign exchange earnings.
The sector also provides some 80 per cent of all employment
opportunities in the country. </span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>However,
most of Kenya’s youth still shy away from farming. Majority of their
parents – mainly small scale farmers – employ traditional farming
technologies which results in low yields and minimal returns. </span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">“<span>They
thus remain poor and make young people view agriculture as an
unattractive career,” says Dr. Augusta Abate, Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) Assistant Representative in Kenya.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>She
adds that the education system also conditions young people to go for
white collar jobs. “Most of them have a negative view of agriculture as
labour intensive and unrewarding,” says Abate.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Wanene
notes that availing capital for leasing agricultural land to the youth
will consequently increase their participation in agriculture and help
change these negative perceptions.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>With
improved agricultural performance, Kenya will make great strides
towards achieving MDG 1 which seeks to eradicate poverty and hunger in
nations.</span></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<h1>
<b><span style="font-size: small;">The story <span style="font-size: small;">first appeared <span style="font-size: small;">on the <a href="http://www.entrepreneurshipafrica.com/business-resources/entrepnews/modern-farming-technologies-coined-to-attract-youth-to-agriculture.html#.Uz0DwUdX9jM.facebook" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: small;">Entrepreneurship</span> <span style="font-size: small;">Africa website</span></a></span></span></span></b><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.entrepreneurshipafrica.com/business-resources/entrepnews/modern-farming-technologies-coined-to-attract-youth-to-agriculture.html#.Uz0DwUdX9jM.facebook" target="_blank"> written by <span style="font-size: small;">Wairimu Nyambura</span></a></span></h1>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-4538476754832697042014-04-02T06:46:00.002-07:002014-04-02T23:57:07.908-07:00The ABC of sheep breeds in Kenya<h1>
</h1>
<div>
By their nature, sheep are followers. They follow the shepherd to pastures, to the market and to the slaughterhouse.<br />
<br />
You just need to show the way and they will follow. I am sure this picture reminds you of Limuru, where many people keep sheep.</div>
<div>
Today,
I would like to focus on two primary sheep breeds, namely the Dorper
(pictured) and Red Maasai. The Dorper is a breed that was developed in
South Africa and was introduced into the country through the Kenya
Agricultural Research Institute in 1950s.<br />
<br />
<br />
It was developed by crossing
the Dorset Horn and Blackhead Persian breeds, hence the name ‘Dorper’.
The animal is identified by its characteristic black head and white
body.</div>
<div>
<br />
<a href="http://ccafs.cgiar.org/sites/default/files/ilri_drylands-sheep.jpg?1352997040" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ccafs.cgiar.org/sites/default/files/ilri_drylands-sheep.jpg?1352997040" height="266" width="400" /></a>The breed has been widely adopted across the
country due to its commendable adaptability to semi-arid and arid
environments. The Dorper exhibits good mothering abilities, calves twice
a year and can attain a live weight of 36kg in four months.</div>
<div>
<br />
However,
when compared to local breeds, the Dorper may be termed as
ecologically-challenged as it is not resilient to drought and common
sheep diseases such as gastro-intestinal parasites, commonly referred to
as worms. The latter are known to cause serious losses to sheep owners.</div>
<div>
<br />
On
the other hand, the indigenous Red Masaai sheep are mostly found in
Rift Valley. The sheep are synonymous with pastoralists. The Red Maasai
breed is mainly reared for meat, and not wool. It has reddish-brown fur.
It spots a shaggy coat of hair, not wool. The pastoralists are
extremely fond of this breed due to its numerous adaptive traits. </div>
<div>
<br />
However,
the down-side of the species is that it is characteristically small
compared to the exotic breeds, thus it does not make much commercial
relevance. </div>
<div>
<br />
Clearly, both breeds have merits and demerits. How can a farmer gain from their respective strengths? </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ccafs.cgiar.org/sites/default/files/ilri_drylands-sheep.jpg?1352997040" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a><a href="http://ccafs.cgiar.org/sites/default/files/ilri_drylands-sheep.jpg?1352997040" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a></div>
<div>
<br />
<br />
The
answer lies in crossbreeding. Developing a composite breed that would
be relatively more resistant as compared to a pure exotic Dorper and
more productive as compared to an indigenous Red Maasai would be an
ideal approach. </div>
<div>
<br />
The crossbreeding approach has been
undertaken and indications are that a 50/50 cross is relatively more
resistant and productive, and an increase to 75/25 pedigree would
ultimately improve the productivity of the animal but require increased
management. </div>
<div>
<br />
The crosses offer better meat and milk,
are drought-tolerant and worm-resistant, have higher lamb survival rate,
exhibit faster growth, achieve higher slaughter value and are preferred
even in local markets.</div>
<div>
<br />
The crossbreeds perform better
in terms of body weight gain and growth rates than both the pure Dorper
and the indigenous Red Maasai. </div>
<div>
<br />
The crossbreed is of
clear economic relevance to the smallholder farmers. Crossbreeds can be
bought from local farmers around Kajiado and Nakuru. </div>
<div>
<br />
So,
where can you sell sheep? They are mainly sold in local markets at
about Sh4,000 an animal. The Kenya Meat Commission is another potential
market. Their docile nature makes sheep very easy to rear. They can be
comfortably kept on a small portion of land. Sheep also provide very
good quality skins for the leather industry.</div>
<div>
<br />
A good breeding ram would cost approximately Sh12,000. </div>
<div>
<br />
Being a shepherd may be the next big thing.</div>
<div>
<br />
<b>Why the crossbreed is value for your money</b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Offers better meat and milk</li>
<li>Drought-tolerant </li>
<li>Worm-resistant</li>
<li>Has higher lamb survival rate</li>
<li>Exhibits faster growth</li>
<li>Achieves higher slaughter value </li>
<li>Preferred even in local markets</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h1>
<b><span style="font-size: small;">The story <span style="font-size: small;">first appeared in the <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/business/enterprise/Seeds-of-Gold-Sheep-Breeding-Agriculture-Livestock/-/1954166/2261626/-/m3v9hyz/-/index.html" target="_blank">Daily Nation Newspaper writte<span style="font-size: small;">n by </span></a></span></span></b><a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/business/enterprise/Seeds-of-Gold-Sheep-Breeding-Agriculture-Livestock/-/1954166/2261626/-/m3v9hyz/-/index.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Mary Muchunguh</b></span></a></h1>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-32651935967282283912014-03-27T11:50:00.000-07:002014-04-02T07:18:14.506-07:00How does index based insurance work?<div>
Index-based livestock insurance is slowly gaining popularity in
North Eastern Kenya mainly because of the unpredictable weather, which
decimates their livestock.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
Andrew Mude, a programme officer with the
International Livestock Research Institute, says insuring
livestock and assessing the value of damage during severe drought may
not be profitable for conventional insurers.<br />
<br />
“It is difficult and costly for assessors to come
to the arid and semi-arid areas to establish the cause of death for
animals,” he said</div>
<div>
<br />
Index insurance, therefore, insures the pastoralists against conditions that lead to stock losses.</div>
<div>
<br />
“The key nutritional input for livestock is forage
and there is a very big correlation between the availability of forage
and health of livestock,” he explained.<br />
<br />
“The more limited the forage, the more likely the animals will die.” </div>
<div>
<br />
To assess the scarcity of forage, Ilri
uses various sensors, like those owned by Nasa, European Union and the
other research satellites to tell the level of photosynthesis activity. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
The high resolution sensors normally cover areas
of 250 metres by 250 metres, taking photos of the vegetation in a
particular area every 10 days.<br />
</div>
<div>
When the research began in 2008, Ilri was using
satellite images covering eight square kilometres, which, over the
years, they have scaled down to improve the accuracy of their
predictions.</div>
<div>
<br />
The data collected on the availability of grass
and vegetation is measured against data on livestock death from both the
arid lands management programme and the World Bank.</div>
<div>
<br />
A model with a precise relationship between forage
availability and livestock death is formed, leading to the formation of
an index-based insurance cover for a particular area.</div>
<div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blogs.oxfam.org/sites/blogs.oxfam.org/files/imagecache/blogmain_fullwidth/blogimages/main/kenya-dead-cattle-620.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://blogs.oxfam.org/sites/blogs.oxfam.org/files/imagecache/blogmain_fullwidth/blogimages/main/kenya-dead-cattle-620.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Images of the devastation the severe drought of 2011 had on livestock in the Horn of Africa PHOTO: OXFAM</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
If the trigger level is reached in a particular
area, the insurance company compensates the affected pastoralist,
regardless of livestock loss.</div>
<div>
<br />
“The more the index is above the trigger levels
the higher the payout, which enables them to buy feeds for the livestock
and compensates them against any loss they may have incurred,” he said.<br />
<br />
<br />
Apart from insuring livestock, the indexing can be
used to insure crops like maize and wheat in areas where farmers rely
on them for their livelihood but productivity is affected by adverse
weather.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-34468287778258994372014-03-19T06:35:00.001-07:002014-04-02T07:17:50.355-07:00Statistics from FAO report on GMo traces<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This slideshow was first published on the <a href="http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/" target="_blank">Business Daily website</a></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-30556249286112843352014-03-19T06:14:00.000-07:002014-04-03T10:29:41.218-07:00Fears as GM traces in convetional foods grow<div>
The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has,
in a new report, raised the alarm over the increased cases of genetic
contamination in globally traded foods.</div>
<div>
<br />
The survey conducted in 193 countries between
February and June last year showed that more conventional foods were
being found to have genetic modification (GM) contamination. </div>
<div>
<br />
The report comes at a time when Kenya is considering maize importation to plug a deficit following poor production last year. </div>
<div>
<br />
With traditional white maize import sources facing
challenges of their own it is expected that Kenya’s imports will be
sourced elsewhere.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
According to the FAO report the increase in
contamination has impacted global import and export trade, especially
for countries with zero tolerance to genetically modified foods. </div>
<div>
<br />
FAO reported that over the period of the survey, 25 countries across the globe blocked imports after finding traces of GMOs. </div>
<div>
<br />
Incidences of discovery of genetically modified
material in non-GM food, the report says, has been on the increase for
the last 12 years, with cases more than doubling in the last five
years.</div>
<div>
<br />
Between 2002 and 2009, 60 cases of contamination
were reported among the surveyed countries compared to the 138 cases
reported up to last year. </div>
<div>
<br />
The island of Madagascar destroyed a consignment
of maize it had imported from France after it was found to have traces
of GM contamination.</div>
<div>
<br />
Last year the Namibian Agronomic Board (NAB)
reprimanded individuals deemed to be responsible for producing and
marketing maize products that allegedly contained GM in a consignment
imported from neighbouring Tanzania. </div>
<div>
<br />
The report noted that while the number of cases of
contaminated consignments was relatively smaller than the total amount
of food and feed traded globally on any day, the increased occurrence is
a worry as it leads to costly trade disruptions.</div>
<div>
<br />
In most cases the genetically modified crop is
authorised for use and sale in one country but may not be legalised in
the importing country. If traces of GM are found in a non-GM
consignment, the shipment may be destroyed or returned to the country of
origin.</div>
<div>
<br />
Levels of contamination in human food and animal
feed varied from one country to another, with a general range between
detection of low levels of GM crops that have been approved after a food
safety assessment to the adventitious presence level where
unintentional presence of GM crops that has not been approved on a food
safety assessment in any country was discovered.</div>
<div>
<br />
FAO said that trace amounts of GMO could be mixed
with non-GM food and feed crops by accident during field production or
during processing, packing, storage and transportation when the two
interact.<br />
<br />
<div>
The FAO report also identified the inadequate separation between
commercialised and field trial production areas as a major contributor
to the resulting trade risks.</div>
<div>
<br />
The fact that different GMO policies exist between
trading partners also raised the possibility of imports being rejected
over contamination.</div>
<div>
<br />
Botswana, Congo, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Madagascar,
Mozambique and the Gambia were among African countries included in the
survey.</div>
<div>
<br />
Others were Mali, Morocco, Somalia, Namibia, Sudan, Niger, Seychelles and Togo.</div>
<div>
<br />
Linseed, rice, maize, rice cracker and noodles
were the most common contaminated foods, with the traded papaya, pet
food, canola and soybean products also showing some levels of GM
contamination. </div>
<div>
<br />
Most of the shipments found to have low levels of
contamination came from the US, Canada and China. The increased
incidence of reported contaminated consignments has been attributed to
the increased production of genetically modified crops around the globe.</div>
<div>
<br />
The International Service for the Acquisition of
Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) estimates that the total acreage of
biotech crops increased by five million hectares from 2012 to reach 175
million hectares in 2013.</div>
<div>
<br />
In their global status of commercialised GM crops
2013, ISAAA noted that of the 27 countries that had grown genetically
modified crops, 19 were developing countries that planted an acreage
that exceeded that of the industrial nations.</div>
<div>
<br />
The leading growers of genetically modified crops last year were the US, Brazil, Argentina, India and Canada.</div>
<div>
<br />
ISAAA also identified soybean, cotton, maize and canola as the major biotech crops planted last year. </div>
<div>
<br />
Seventy nine per cent of global planting,
equivalent to 84.5 million hectares of GM soybean, was grown in 11
countries while 23.9 million hectares of genetically modified cotton was
grown in 15 countries last year, representing 70 per cent of global
planting.</div>
<div>
<br />
About 57.4 million hectares of maize, considered a
staple food in several African countries, planted last year was
genetically modified representing 32 per cent of global planting while
8.2 million hectares of GM canola was grown in four countries in 2013.</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-54953448085629516892014-03-13T06:11:00.000-07:002014-04-02T07:16:58.172-07:00The mouse scared of elephants!!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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They say that elephants are most afraid of mice. Spotting of a
tail let alone the body of the small creature can cause a very big
stampede.<br />
<br />
I beg to differ.<br />
<br />
You see at the start of the year I had vowed to that this would be the year
I go back to my roots.<br />
<br />
My plan was very simple I wanted my father to lease me half an acre of
his land so that my dreams could take off.<br />
<br />
My vision for the year has been growing dimmer and dimmer as the days go by.
It all started a week after the New Year; the land in our rural home (or shaggz
as many Kenyan youth would call it) was still green form the short rains of the
previous planting season.<br />
<br />
While performance of maize was not satisfactory, the people in my
village were hopeful that they would harvest a lot of the vegetables.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_ZzqOdNZJfQ/UyGuKPkgseI/AAAAAAAAAUA/StqlrNEg0Gw/s1600/7676+Tsavo+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_ZzqOdNZJfQ/UyGuKPkgseI/AAAAAAAAAUA/StqlrNEg0Gw/s1600/7676+Tsavo+3.JPG" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
You see we the Taita (the Kenyan coastal tribe that I come from) seem to eat
a lot of naturally occurring herbs as of my friends once noted when she
visited our home most of which are an acquired taste.<br />
<br />
When it rains it is almost like clockwork that vegetables which are now in
excess supply are harvested and dried either in the sun as they are or
after they are boiled. In this way they are able to stay for longer up to three
months providing for families. <br />
<br />
When we were young and my grandfather still lived in a mud house the
situation was the same if not worse. the elephants would come to the
homesteads and help themselves to the rough surfaces of the homes in the
dead of the night just to get rid of a bugging itch.<br />
<br />
But I digress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
While villagers were celebrating the harvests in January<br />
, jumbos from the nearby
national park were also thanking their maker. They became the new menace
tearing into the farms eating all that they could.<br />
<br />
Recently when I visited our rural home and everyone was quick to inform me
of the Jumbo imposed curfews.<br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There had been far too many close
shaves with most of my relatives as they came from the farm and they knew too
well that a city mouse like me cannot be able to withstand a confrontation if
left to my own devices.<br />
<br />
As petty as this might seem to some, many of my relatives most of whom had
close shaves with the jumbos have not returned to the farms fearing for their
lives.<br />
<br />
<br />
It got me thinking, do I really want to farm that much that I would be
willing to endanger my own life or that of those working for me? Do I even have
the resources to spend on a farm only to have an elephant come trampling on the
harvests?<br />
<br />
I am forced to wonder how many more people in Africa are found in
predicaments similar to that of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>my
kinsmen and what would be the lasting solution to this?<br />
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<![endif]--> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-45302908941660302052014-03-10T09:05:00.002-07:002014-04-07T22:05:05.857-07:00Youth in Agriculture Blog Competition<br />
<br />
My blog smattakenya@blogspot.com qualified for the second round of the
YOBLOCO awards, (Youth in Agriculture Blog Competition).<br />
<br />
<br />
In this round
the 121 blogs in the individual category and 24 blogs in the
institutional category from 40 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)
countries are publicly evaluated.<br />
<br />
<br />
Your vote will help me advance to the next level of the competition<br />
<br />
<br />
HOW TO VOTE:<br />
<br />
1. Go to the link: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yobloco.info%2Fsubmission%3Ffilter%3Dindividual&h=hAQFDGZbf&enc=AZMZFvdteQaddZtAtgM6CIrqWZGSmRkT6JqmX-ZorRVLrCSn81D5ZHp3A0_tTGmGjBNJXAsew0s9mrPxFxqaDq6NXqxwJFkqWrO9kGgJRk1V5unqc-6xL-OrrwXGzlkESDWV0Y9xP7RMUu6mLabqTweZ&s=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.yobloco.info/submission?filter=individual</a> <br />
<br />
2. Vote for Smattakenya by Sandra Chao from Kenya and another blog of your choice <br />
<br />
3. Go to your email address and Click on the confirmation link otherwise your vote will NOT be valid.<br />
<br />
<span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-reactid=".s.1:3:1:$comment10203483360475247_7325442:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body"><span class="UFICommentBody" data-reactid=".s.1:3:1:$comment10203483360475247_7325442:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0"><span data-reactid=".s.1:3:1:$comment10203483360475247_7325442:0.0.$right.0.$left.0.0.0:$comment-body.0.$end:0:$0:0">Quick reminder after you have voted please check for the confirmation link either in your inbox or spam folder and click on it.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
You can only vote once per email address so you can vote severally with different emails.<br />
<br />
<br />
Thank you for your time<br />
Sandra ChaoAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-55664346562834008382014-03-05T01:02:00.000-08:002014-04-02T07:16:44.331-07:00Tanzanian farmers get taste of mobile extension services<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
Extension services in Tanzania are set to go mobile thanks to a Norwegian funded
program at the Sokoine University of Agriculture.<br />
<br />
<br />
The new system will help farmers access the vital market information as well
as pass on information on various technologies to use to improve farm
productivity.<br />
<br />
<br />
The system will enable the little number of extension workers to reach as
many farmers as possible.<br />
According to reports from Tanzania the Enhancing Pro-poor Innovations in
Natural Resources and Agricultural Value-chains (Epinav) Program is currently
being tested in Kilolo in Iringa and Kilosa districts in Morogoro region.<br />
<br />
<br />
Kenya’s well developed technology sector has enabled many individual and
organizations to come up with both web based and mobile platforms that help farmers
and other players within the agricultural sector value chain.<br />
<br />
<br />
If technology is integrated well with agriculture has the potential to increase
productivity and the socio-economic status of many smallholder farmers in the
continent.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-18499233773910808672014-02-27T23:34:00.003-08:002014-04-02T07:16:18.632-07:00Here's to financing Kenyan farmers!<div>
Four fourth-year University of Nairobi students pursuing Computer Science have embarked on linking farmers with financiers.</div>
<div>
While there has been a vigorous campaign in the
last two decades to get Kenyan youths back to the farms, the quartet has
taken a more unconventional approach on the matter.</div>
<div>
James Kimani, Caroline Muteti, Rita Kimani and
Peris Nyaboe have created an online solution that not only profiles
farmers and the type of farming they do but also allows them to connect
with youths and group investors.</div>
<div>
Their platform, Farmdrive, helps to connect
individuals interested in farming — and who while finding agriculture
profitable have no time for the venture — with farmers looking for money
to expand their activities. </div>
<div>
“It all started with a regional competition which
placed a call through the different technology hubs in the region for
agricultural startups that could address the challenge of lack of
information which most farmers face, or come up with ways to boost their
access (to information) through use of technology,” said Ms Kimani.</div>
<div>
<b>The challenge</b></div>
<div>
The classmates got interested in the challenge
when the Computing for Development (C4D) lab housed at the university urged
students pursuing technology courses to take part in the competition. </div>
<div>
During a brainstorming session, the four noted
that there were several tools created to enhance information sharing and
communication between farmers and extension workers and chose to focus
on ways of making it easier for farmers to get finances.</div>
<div>
“We all study computer science but we have our
specialities which we are using to create synergy. What we are trying to
do is revolutionise how farmers get access to financial services in
the country,” said Mr Kimani.</div>
<div>
Farmers can to feed their revenue and expense
information in the Farmdrive application and be able to get a graphical
representation of whether or not their agricultural venture has good
returns or is a money drain.</div>
<div>
“As they continue to do so they are able to build
their farm profile within the system and we can analyse how their
farming is doing, creating a portfolio of creditworthiness for potential
investors,” he said.</div>
<div>
Their research on information and finance access by farmers was carried out in Kikuyu, Thika and Kiambu.</div>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/image/view/-/2223056/medRes/695902/-/maxw/600/-/331p6k/-/students.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/image/view/-/2223056/medRes/695902/-/maxw/600/-/331p6k/-/students.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The four members of Farmdrive who are keen on linking farmers to individual financiers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
“Most of the farmers we talked to hardly kept
records on how much they were investing in their farms and did not track
productivity. Farmers who had some form of recording systems said that
accessing money from banks and microfinance institutions was too
bureaucratic,” Ms Nyaboe said.</div>
<div>
“At the same time,” Ms Kimani added, “We had also
done research on individuals who were passionate about farming and who
had funds to invest in farming but either did not have land or time to
do it.”</div>
<div>
Although loans are awarded to individual farmers,
they are expected to form small groups of five on the platform in order
to act as a verification tool and reduce defaulting.<br />
<div>
This innovative idea saw them through to the recent
Agrihackathon championship in Kigali. While Farmdrive did not make it to
the top three innovations, the four were able to network and pitch
their ideas to an array of venture capitalists and investors some of who
are seeking to invest in their platform.</div>
<div>
“The simple bookkeeping application that we had
conceived six months ago is not what it is right now. It has undergone
several coding and other verification systems to make it simpler and
user friendly to farmers. We keep on improving the application,” said Ms
Kimani.</div>
<div>
Unlike other solutions available in the market
which are either Android-based, Farmdrive is built on a Responsive Web
Design (RWD) aimed at crafting websites to provide an optimal viewing
experience.</div>
<div>
This means that farmers interested in using Farmdrive are not restricted to a mobile phone with a particular operating system.</div>
<div>
As long as their phone has an internet connection
they can access the website whose content adjusts to the screen of
connecting device.</div>
<div>
While farmers are not charged to use the platform,
Farmdrive provides an annual membership fee to investors interested in
agriculture. This allows them to access information about farmers on the
platform and provides a system through which they can contact them.</div>
<div>
“We have checks and balances which ensure that
investors are legitimate so that we do not expose farmers to criminals,”
said Mr Kimani.<br />
The team has been running a pilot that involves 20 farmers in Kiambu County.</div>
<div>
While they have been receiving positive feedback
from the users, they are looking to validate their business model before
releasing the application to the market by end of the first quarter.</div>
<div>
“Agribusiness is a profitable venture and also
expansive in nature, for now we are focusing on connecting dairy and
poultry farmers to individual investors. In the long run we hope to
expand nationwide and to include more farmers, allowing an individual in
Nairobi to invest in a maize farm in Trans Nzoia County,” said Ms
Kimani.</div>
<div>
Mr Kimani said that he was comfortable working
with the three female students, who he described as innovative and
considerate in the management of the startup.</div>
<div>
He said that most of the business decisions are consensual.</div>
<div>
“Since we are techies and not quite privy to
agribusiness, we have sought experts in agriculture and business to be
our mentors and help in validating our business models. If we cannot
agree among ourselves about a decision to take ,we seek the opinion of
the experts,” Ms Nyaboe said.</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-64906851986321088332014-02-15T01:22:00.000-08:002014-04-02T07:15:54.611-07:00Hail the Kenyan farmer<div>
Five
farmers’ groups from Kenya have been recognised for their role in
promoting income diversity, youth and women participation and market
access.</div>
<div>
The five were feted during the 2013 Farmer of the Year
Awards (FOYA) which are organised by the Alliance for Green Revolution
in Africa and the African Investment Climate Research.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blog.usaid.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Kenyan-farmer-shows-her-crops-460x305.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://blog.usaid.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Kenyan-farmer-shows-her-crops-460x305.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kenyan farmer shows her crops. Photo credit: Jimmy Wambua (USAID)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br />
<br />
Kenya National Federation of Agri Producers
(Kenfap) was second in the income diversity award while Naima
Development, a community- based organisation which focuses on building
the capacity of small-scale farmers in Bungoma north district was
recognised for integrating youth and women into farming.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
Owefwe Obwambami Self-Help Group which also
operates in Bungoma County was recognised for increasing market access
among its members. Schemers Community Based Organisation and the Hekima
Horticulture Self-help Group were awarded for advocacy and governance
respectively.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
Dr John Mutunga of Kenfap said many farmers’
organisations were unable to sustain themselves because of insufficient
funding. Kenfap raises money to support its outreach programmes among
farmers.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
Naima founder Albert Wafula said the group has
since 2006 trained 318 women and 75 youth in banana, maize and poultry
production.</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="subcolumns" id="article_comments">
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-6126731192186545342014-02-13T04:19:00.000-08:002014-04-02T07:14:39.418-07:00Rap them back to the farms<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
While people will still be in the valentine weekend spirit, contemporary
Kenyan rapper will be holding another concert in Nakuru town within the Rift
valley.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unlike other concerts
where music will be the main theme, here all matters agriculture will hold
first priority.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://scontent-a-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/t1/p206x206/423557_10150613492033365_2012280913_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://scontent-a-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/t1/p206x206/423557_10150613492033365_2012280913_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is another town
for the firming is cool circuit perhaps an effort to target the youth in particular
to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>go back to farming.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The use of Juliani as the brand face for the farming is cool
nationwide tour is symbolic not only because the rapper has a huge following on
social media and also due to his celebrity status but also due to the fact that
he came from a humble background and before making it<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>big in the music industry was barely trying
to survive like many<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>unemployed Kenyan youth.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.ulizalinks.co.ke/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/juliani-farming-tour-post.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.ulizalinks.co.ke/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/juliani-farming-tour-post.jpg" height="257" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is the same message that Nigerian superstar D’banj was
selling in addis ababa last month<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as
part of the one campaign lobbying governments to increase the financial
allocation to the agricultural sector to about 10 per<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>cent of the national budget.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Soon after D’banj was officially launched there was a lot of
criticism as to whether he was the right person for the job, as with the
Juliani here back in Kenya, the main argument for many critics being that they
neither sing about farming or potray the lifestyles of hardworking farmers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.kenyabuzz.com/media/cache/2e/8f/2e8f21fb3b52b39718996b453cd565aa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.kenyabuzz.com/media/cache/2e/8f/2e8f21fb3b52b39718996b453cd565aa.jpg" height="400" width="282" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I view things differently. By 2050 Africa will still have
among the highest number of hungry people in the world only that the numbers
would have doubled. Yet Africa as at now has the largest percentage of
uncultivated land in the world and among the highest number of unemployed
youths.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Me thinks. We need to get as many youths back to the farms
as soon as possible in order to bolster the continent’s food baskets. If we are
to rap them all the way back to the fields then so be it!!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So I urge you to take time from your lovey dovey moments
this weekend and spread some farm love by turning up for some farm love if you
will be in and around Nakuru!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You would be shock to learn how easy it is to access agricultural
financing and other necessary farm inputs!!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-69087540897309979142014-02-12T11:59:00.000-08:002014-04-02T07:14:05.607-07:00Half acre money maker<div>
At first glance it is easy for anyone to confuse her with a simple market lady.</div>
<div>
It is Saturday morning and Pauline Mwangi is
completely dressed down from her usual formal attire during the week and
ready to work on her half-acre farm located at Kasarani in Nairobi.</div>
<div>
First she checks on the quails, her most recent
venture on the farm, to see if they have enough food and changes their
drinking water.</div>
<div>
Her next stop is the <i>kienyeji</i>
(indigenous) chicken, which she rears in a nearby poultry house after
ensuring that they are in perfect health, she goes on to walk around the
rest of her farm. She has 100 chicken at the moment.</div>
<div>
One can be excused to assume that she is in her rural county and not her home in Nairobi.</div>
<div>
Ms Mwangi represents a new breed of city women,
those who can have an eight-to-five job and still manage to indulge in
their farming passion.</div>
<div>
“When my children were born, I wanted them to have
a healthy lifestyle. At that time there were all these fears about the
origin of most of the food that it was being grown around sewers in
Nairobi so I planted some bananas outside my house,” she said.</div>
<div>
<br />
<b>Growing interest</b></div>
<div>
<br />
Before long she began planting just enough kales,
coriander and parsley for her family to consume in a bid to reduce the
trips she would make to the market in Githurai and some tokens for those
who called at her home.</div>
<div>
“Whenever my friends and family would come visit
they would always want to buy some fresh vegetables for their homes and
that was when I decided to scale up my farming into agribusiness,” she
said.</div>
<div>
Today, she grows tomatoes, strawberries, cabbages,
kales, pepper, capsicum, spinach, cucumbers, bananas and some maize for
sale to her neighbours, other customers as well as the nearby hotels. </div>
<div>
<br />
Up scaling her passion was not an easy affair, her
husband had to finance part of the capital intensive investments which
she supplemented with her savings.</div>
<div>
She would deliver three crates of tomatoes to the
hotels thrice a week at between Sh1,000 and Sh1,500 per crate while she
sold a kilo of capsicum for between Sh120 and Sh150 depending on the
market price.</div>
<div>
<br />
The urban farmer has 600 quails which she
purchased mid last year because of the growing interest many people
expressed in the bird’s meat. She has even bought an incubator so that
she can hatch the quail eggs and continue with a fresh lot even as she
sold the older ones.</div>
<div>
<br />
“Right now my farm is all inclusive,” she said.
“Previously I would have to hire a lorry and go all the way to
Maasailand to look for manure but now I just use the droppings from the
poultry houses.”<br />
<br />
Before she turned to the kienyeji (local breed) chicken, Ms Mwangi tried her hand in rearing broilers. Although they matured faster they did not sell as much as she hoped because many of her clients preferred the local breed.
<br />
<div>
<br />
“Quails are like chicken, they even pick on each
other so we separate the bullied from the rest of the lot. I first went
home and brought some of the local chicken breed to rear but many of the
chicks would die and soon I was forced to go back to the village and
get a fresh lot,” she said.</div>
<div>
<br />
She has two greenhouses one in which she has just
finished harvesting the third crop of tomatoes and the other in which
she is about to get her first capsicum harvest. </div>
<div>
<br />
Each of the greenhouses is eight by 30 metres in
size and cost about Sh250,000 to set up. On average she harvests between
200 and 250 kilogrammes of tomatoes per week and between 100 and 150
kilogrammes of capsicum weekly.</div>
<div>
<br />
“This was the third time we were harvesting and
the tomatoes were very small in size. Rather than have a crop that
diminishes in size, I have chosen to uproot them and plant more
capsicum,” she explained.</div>
<div>
<br />
Since it is her first time to plant capsicum Ms
Mwangi decided not to restrict herself in terms of looking for market
for her crop advertising even on social media and agriculture oriented
websites like Mkulima Young.</div>
<div>
<br />
<b>Daily duties</b></div>
<div>
<br />
She has drilled a borehole in one corner and
connected the whole farm to a drip irrigation system which makes it
easier to water the crops in the mornings and evenings.</div>
<div>
<br />
As she works as a marketer, Ms Mwangi has timed
her deliveries to ensure that she makes them early enough before going
to work or after 5pm when she has left the office. </div>
<div>
<br />
The farmer has hired two people to help in the
management of her farm — one dedicated to the poultry and the other
whose work is to attend to the crops on the farm.</div>
<div>
<br />
Getting the right farm help has, however, not been
easy she admits as some of the people she hired in the past would not
implement the daily duties that she had set out for them, especially
after she left for work.</div>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/image/view/-/2132602/medRes/656725/-/maxw/600/-/p83ht6/-/pauline.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/image/view/-/2132602/medRes/656725/-/maxw/600/-/p83ht6/-/pauline.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ms Mwangi shows off part of her half acre farm in the backyard of her home in Nairobi.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
“I would get back home and find that no weeding or
spraying had been done and at other times I would get workers who were
not as enthusiastic as I am in farming and would have to let them go,”
she said. </div>
<div>
<br />
“But I have come to realise that the quality of
work that they do is directly linked to the benefit they see deriving
from their work. I, therefore, try to show them that the having good
produce is mutually beneficial to us all.”</div>
<div>
<br />
Even though she gets to deliver produce to hotels
daily, her most valued customers are the neighbours who knock on her
door on Saturdays to buy fresh produce each spending an average of
Sh1,000 who encouraged her to go into agribusiness.</div>
<div>
<br />
Her advice to working women who want to try their
hand in urban farming is to look for more than one alternative,
especially in buying greenhouses in order to get a more genuine company.<br />
<br />
“The first crop of your greenhouse may not give you back your investment
but the returns are definitely there in farming,” says Ms Mwangi. “It
is an art that you keep on learning everyday you drop the crops that you
find are hard to move and plant more of those that the market </div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-18792327325864071882014-02-10T19:59:00.000-08:002014-04-02T07:13:43.515-07:00Reducing livestock diseases the tech way<div>
Introduced in 2009, the digital pen technology continues to help
veterinary officers enhance disease surveillance in arid and semi-arid
areas in Kenya.</div>
<div>
Forty nine digital pens were distributed to 29
districts across the country in a pilot project carried out jointly by
the government in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO) including Garissa, Tana River, Lamu, Mandera and Malindi.</div>
<div>
Over the last two years, the Kenyan government has
increased access to the digital pen technology for veterinary officers
to an additional 50 districts.</div>
<div>
According to Dr Samuel Kahariri, one of the vets who have pioneered the use of the digital pen, the technology has transformed the way disease surveillance was being done.</div>
<div>
“We used to do surveillance and disease reporting
the conventional way where reports would be written in triplicate, a
copy would remain with the official on the ground another with the
regional officer and the final one sent to Nairobi which would take
about three weeks,” he said.</div>
<div>
The pen which is manufactured by a South African
company has a camera, processor, memory and Bluetooth .The vet officers in the country use the Bluetooth device in the digital pen to connect it
to a Nokia phone model N72 which allows for easy information transmission.</div>
<div>
While doing his disease surveillance, a vet would
inspect the sickly animal and when writing the report on the digital
paper he presses the start button and the infrared camera begins to
record all that is being written.</div>
<div>
On pressing the send button, the captured report
is initially sent to the Nokia phone via Bluetooth before being relayed
to a common diseases surveillance reporting server in than 10 seconds.</div>
<div>
This in turn helps the veterinary head office in
Nairobi map out endemic areas and prepare for any potential disease
outbreaks especially for those which can be passed onto humans.</div>
<div>
Some of the diseases that the technology has helped to reduce include Anthrax, Foot and Mouth, Rift Valley Fever and rabies.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/emergencies/img/kenya-story2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/emergencies/img/kenya-story2.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the Veterinary officers use the digital pen for disease surveillance. Photo by FAO</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
The pen’s memory can store up to 40 such reports.</div>
<div>
“The use of this digital pen technology has helped
in emergency preparedness for disease outbreaks helping to reduce the
loss of livestock especially among pastoralists and we want to ensure
that all the 47 counties are connected to ensure even faster reporting,”
he said.</div>
<div>
In areas where the digital pen is not used,
veterinary officers are able to feed the information of sickly animals
through a mobile application that also relays the surveillance
information in a matter of minutes.<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-58403376720070088802014-01-05T06:40:00.002-08:002014-04-02T07:12:50.216-07:00Incubator offers hope for agribusiness startups<div>
Entrepreneurs with innovative
agribusiness ideas have an opportunity to be part of a 16-week
incubation programme that will see them develop sustainable ventures.</div>
<div>
The initiative dubbed Agribusiness for Impact
Incubator Programme is initiated by the Growthhub platform that seeks to
promote start-ups across the East African region.</div>
<div>
In an interview<i></i>
Patricia Jumi, one of the co-founders of the Nairobi-based incubator,
said that the 16-week incubation would see 12 companies selected and
supported to establish and grow their businesses.</div>
<div>
“Many youths still see agriculture as a last
option and think of engaging in it for the short-term gain like farming
just to make money from it even though there is a growing need for a
more progressive kind of agriculture,” she said.</div>
<div>
Ms Jumi explained that a paradigm shift of
agriculture to a more capitalist one as in the manufacturing sector
would create more employment opportunities and have greater social
impact.</div>
<div>
“People want to be entrepreneurs but they do not
know if their ideas are good enough. We need to help them think beyond
the norm across the whole agricultural chain to enable them create
sustainable industries out of their ideas,” she said.</div>
<div>
Youths with creative ideas on agro-processing
businesses, adoption of modern farming practices, improving food
security as well as increasing income generation for farmers have until
January 9 to submit their ideas to the competition.</div>
<div>
The selected teams will in February undergo a
four-week intensive training on good business models and addressing
customer needs and how to transform their agribusiness ideas into
start-ups. </div>
<div>
After this five teams will be chosen and each will
receive a capital investment of sh430,000 ($5,000) to build a prototype
and test their product or service.</div>
<div>
The teams will then have 10 weeks to implement and
execute their business ideas before making their final pitches to
potential investors in May.</div>
<div style="margin: 5px,10px;">
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-90036645488257587282013-12-29T20:30:00.000-08:002014-04-02T07:12:17.752-07:00Can a city girl become a farm mouse?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Growing up I used to pride myself in being able to do so many household
chores. Yes even farming.<br />
Back then it was non voluntary.<br />
My parents would find ways of coercing us to go to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">shamba</i> (farm) and more often than not I would do it so diligently
so that I could get the often promised carrots.<br />
Me and my siblings would dig, uproot weeds, plant crops and even harvest at
different times of the month.<br />
But one can pull the this tactics just for a few times and as we grew up and
went to school in far of places, there was need for other farming alternatives
like hiring help.<br />
Time flew and soon I found myself working in the capital. Recently when I found
myself going to my rural home for holiday, I kept wondering whether I would remember
how to hold a hoe or how to till the land.<br />
Being in the city did not make me a total blond. I still remember how a hoe
looks like and the way to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shamba</i>
is etched at the back of my memory. But there is a certain angle within in
which the hoe hits the ground to make the greatest impact.<br />
A certain way to arc your back while digging to ensure that you do not have
a backache or get tired only after a short while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While these questions bogged my mind, I began
remembering the pleasant memories associated with farming while growing up.<br />
The songs we would sing as we went to pick some kales, the games of hide and
seek we would play, how we would eat the mangoes from the tree as self rewards
for our hard work and even make a fire to boil or roast some maize when we were
tired of chasing of the monkeys from eating the produce during harvesting season.<br />
It created a nostalgic feeling that I want back. Not exactly being young but
the sense of adventure that farming created.<br />
In my work I have had the opportunity to share time with young farmers
people like me who have gone back to till the land and living well of it.<br />
Urban farmers and rural farmers, the old and young alike all have one thing
in common the passion for farming and doing what they love.<br />
Maybe it is this association that has rubbed off in me and sparked a new
fire. Ensuring that I can do something about food security is my new goal. The
journey won’t be easy but this city girl is getting transformed into the farm
mouse!<br />
<br />
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<![endif]-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02118566337604510627noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302603193096303323.post-51667054578718074182013-12-05T20:10:00.002-08:002013-12-05T20:10:53.935-08:00As Lucky as her name<div>
While her agemates were out celebrating completion of college,
Lucky Ndanu was facing what she terms as the worst battle of her life.</div>
<div>
Ms Ndanu was just 22 when she noticed a lump in
her right breast. She sought medical attention from a nearby clinic but
the doctor said that the small swelling was a common feature of physical
development in young women and that there was nothing to worry about.</div>
<div>
That was in November 2007. Soon Ms Ndanu noticed that the lump had become more aggressive and opted to go for a mammogram.</div>
<div>
“When the results came out I decided to go to
Mater Hospital because I felt that I needed an expert opinion on the
issue. They put be through a breast clinic for two months which included
getting a biopsy of the lump,” Ms Ndanu said.</div>
<div>
When she went to pick her results from the
hospital, her doctor informed her that she could not do so unless she
was accompanied by an adult person. Her family did not reside in
Nairobi, but as luck would have it Ms Ndanu’s mother was in the city
and agreed to accompany her to the hospital.</div>
<div>
“The way I reacted to news that I had breast
cancer was very different from my mother who broke down. I was at the
time unable to express myself and I just smiled. I guess the fact that I
was the only girl in the family hit my mother hard,” she recalled. </div>
<div>
Chemotherapy, mastectomy radiation and hormonal
therapy were among the treatments that the doctor said she had to embark
on immediately. But Ms Ndanu felt that she needed time to digest the
news and come to terms with the diagnosis. However, she went for
counselling soon after and later embarked on treatment.</div>
<div>
“There were times when I felt that I should not go
through the treatment, that it was not worth it. At other times I felt
like I should be treated in order to save my life, it took me from
February to May 2008 to finally make up my mind,” she said.</div>
<div>
The first stage of her treatment process was a
mastectomy. “It was my worst experience, admitting that I had cancer was
difficult. I eventually lost my right breast to the disease,” Ms Ndanu
said.</div>
<div>
<strong>Feel like a real woman</strong></div>
<div>
After treatment, it took Ms Ndanu about four
months to recover at the family home in Machakos before she decided to
go back to Nairobi and continue with her job hunt. The support group she
joined helped her get a breast prosthesis which ‘‘made me feel like a
real woman’’. </div>
<div>
She landed a job at the Kenya Pharmaceutical Association in December 2008. </div>
<div>
‘‘One of my bosses was a supporter of the breast
cancer group I attended and knew about my status so I did not have any
difficulty within the work environment. I stayed there for two years,”
she said. </div>
<div>
Ms Ndanu later moved to the Kenya National Bureau
of Statistics where she worked under contract, after which she moved to
the Mlolongo weighbridge for a short period. </div>
<div>
Even though the Diploma in Statistics graduate is
currently out of work, she said that she still markets her competency to
potential employers.<br />
<div>
“My self-esteem is very high, I look for jobs like any other
person. I do not use my cancer experience to seek favours, it has made
me stronger and I don’t feel like it is something that anybody should
pity me about,” she said.</div>
<div>
<strong>Accept your situation</strong></div>
<div>
Ms Ndanu found out that she was pregnant last
year. She chose to focus on a new chapter in her life rather than be
obsessed with not getting a job — that of becoming a mother. </div>
<div>
After treatment, Ms Ndanu had doubts about
becoming pregnant due to the hormonal therapy which she had been put on.
As the May delivery date grew closer, some of her friends and family
members expressed fear over whether she would be able to breast-feed her
baby.</div>
<div>
“Most of my friends did not imagine that I could
exclusively breast-feed my child, one of them even introduced me to a
nutritionist just in case I needed supplements to breast milk,” she
said.</div>
<div>
Her baby girl, Abriana, was all smiles throughout
the interview, seeking to suckle her mother like any normal healthy
baby. At five months she weighed 7.3 kilogrammes and her mother was
overjoyed.</div>
<div>
“One of my fears after being diagnosed with breast
cancer was whether I would be able to date someone or get a baby, but
here I am very happy and content to have Abriana,” she said. </div>
<div>
Her advice to young women who find themselves in a similar predicament is to accept their situation. </div>
<div>
“Healing starts with yourself. Take it positively,
accept your situation and everybody around you will learn to accept it
also,” she said. Mr Philip Odiyo, a psycho-oncologist at the Faraja
Cancer Support Trust, echoed Ms Ndanu’s positive outlook. </div>
<div>
“It is important for the healing process that those diagnosed with cancer should resume normalcy,” he said.</div>
<div>
He advised breast cancer patients undergoing treatment to get back to work as soon as possible. </div>
<div>
“Patients who keep away from social engagements
during treatment are more likely to get depressed and worry about
recurrence of cancer. Going back to work provides a good distraction and
sets the stage for healing to begin,” he said.</div>
<div>
Mr Odiyo said that every stage of treatment has a
psychological component. For instance, when a person is diagnosed with
cancer; fear of the disease, treatment cost and the reaction of family
members occupy their minds even as they come to terms with the grim
diagnosis.</div>
<div>
“As much as having cancer is not synonymous with a
death sentence, some patients still think of it with the same gravity
and throughout the treatment they think of the risks associated with
treatment,” he explained. </div>
<div>
The psychologist who specialises in counselling of
cancer patients said image and interpersonal relation issues take
precedence among younger women, they also ponder over the possibility of
bearing children.<br />
<div>
After treatment many cancer patients are overwhelmed by
lifestyle changes that they need to make, the process changes their
perspective of life. There is a mental shift of what is really important
to them.</div>
<div>
“Research has shown that social activities help in
the holistic healing process and cancer survivors need to engage in
them fully as well as use their experience to make it a positive thing,”
he said.</div>
</div>
</div>
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