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Agriculture

Local Farmers Reaping Big through the Adoption of New Technologies in Farming

Over 70% of Makueni farmers supported through the National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP) have adopted at least one Technology Innovation and Management Practices (TIMPs) in agricultural production, County Livestock and Cooperative Development Director David Musyoki has revealed.
While interacting with the project County Technical Advisory Committee (CTAC) members, during their 3-day field visits and backstopping exercise, various farmers shared their success  stories of improved livelihoods after adopting best agriculture practices.
 
According to Musyoki, who also chairs CTAC, the committee is responsible for technical advice and quality assurance at the county level.
Many farmers say are now able to afford school fees for their children as well as feed their families during these hard economic  times. These, they attributed to new technologies that have increased production and profitability in agriculture.
 
Some of the TIMPs adopted by farmers are simple chicken feeds formulation and improved feeding, serial hatching, conservation agriculture and mechanization.
 
Others include Integrated Pest Management, climate-smart agronomics practices, flock health management , harvest and post–harvest management.
 
The adoption of new technologies by farmers is expected to shoot up, with the inception of Saccos in the project to assist them access affordable financial resources.

Makueni Farmers to Receive Financial Boost through Saccos.

The Department of Agriculture, Irrigation, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperative Development in partnership with the National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP) has embarked on an ambitious plan to register Saccos in a bid to assist farmers access affordable credits and put more profits in their pockets.
 
Through the Saccos, farmers will be able to access financial resources to boost their productivity and profitability.
 
According to Agriculture chief officer Daniel Ndolo, limited access to financial resources has been a major setback to farmers’ ability to adopt agriculture investments
 
In the new plan, the county government through the department is targeting to form and register a Sacco in each of the 30 wards across the county. So far, 7 Saccos are already legally established, with 6 of them having elected management and supervisory committees in place.
 
The management and supervisory committees’ members of the 6 Saccos underwent  induction training last week, in a bid to equip them with the necessary skills to run and manage the Saccos effectively.
 
The 7 Saccos are in the following  wards; Tulimani, Kako/Waia Masongaleni, Kilome, Thange, Kikumbulyu North and South and Kitise/Kithuki.
 
Once all the Saccos are automated and operational, they will receive a boost startup grant of upto Sh. 1 Million through the NARIGP project.
 
The county government is now calling upon farmers to join Saccos in large numbers so as to benefit maximally in agriculture production and profitability.

Regenerative Agriculture for improved food security

With the adverse effects of climate change, especially in Ukambani, many farmers are glaring at looming food insecurity.
 
However, this is not the case for 180 farmers drawn from various wards in Makueni County, who have adopted Regenerative Agriculture (RA), through , ‘ Strengthening Regenerative Agriculture in Kenya’, an ongoing program that is being spearheaded by the County Government of Makueni through the department of Agriculture, Irrigation, Livestock Fisheries and Cooperative Development in partnership with  Alliance for Green Revolution Africa  (AGRA) and Cereal Growers Association ( CGA).
Regenerative Agriculture is a system of farming principles and practices that seeks to rehabilitate and enhance the entire ecosystem of the farm by placing a heavy premium on soil health with attention also paid to water management, fertilizer use, and more.
The 180 farmers who are also the Village Based Advisors( VBA)have been capacity built through training, peer to peer activities and farm demonstrations on RA principles.
Some of the principles include conservation tillage, minimum soil disturbance, rotation and crop covers, and diversity.
 
The VBAs are in turn cascading the RA knowledge to other farmers at the village levels, with an aim of enhancing food security at household levels.
 
The program is targeting to reach out to 30, 000 farmers directly through the VBA extension model.

The sky is now the limit for Huruma Women Group, a vibrant group of entrepreneurs in Kibwezi Town.

The sky is now the limit for  Huruma Women Group, a vibrant group of entrepreneurs in Kibwezi Town, after receiving Hybrid Solar-Biomass Mango drier unit from the Agriculture Sector Development Support Programme Phase Two (ASDSP II). 
The programme which is supported by Makueni County government is designed to boost their daily processing capacity.
The group adds value to horticultural produce such as vegetables and fruits through drying them and is now calling upon local farmers to take up full-time agricultural activities especially indigenous foods and vegetables, as their outfit is a ready market and locally accessible.

Makueni’s Efforts to Power Small and Midsize Enterprises among the Marginalized Groups.

A big problem in the current agricultural sector in the country are high prices for animal/chicken feeds due to high protein prices.
 
The Department of Agriculture, Irrigation, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperative Development in partnership with Agriculture Sector Development Support Programme Phase Two (ASDSP II) has supported innovative ideas with prospects to women and youth in the priority value chains namely; indigenous chicken, mango and green grams.
Edwin Sila of Nguu-Masumba Ward is one of the beneficiaries of such ASDSP II-funded innovations. He now uses Black Soldier Fly Production and Harvesting unit (BSF), to produce protein-rich feed without having to buy expensive indigenous chicken feed.
 
The usage of the black soldier flies larvae as feed would decrease the cost of chicken feed for farmers and can lead to a more food-secure economy.
In the mango value chain, the Makueni County Fruit Processors Cooperative Society Limited, from Wote-Nziu Ward has also received mango de-sapping pallets to improve the quality of the produce for export.
 
The two innovations were commissioned on Wednesday by Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperative Development Chief Officer Dr. Victoria Kyalo accompanied by ASDSP II Coordinator Regina Maingi.

2000 Ukia Farmers Adopt Hass Avocado as their New Green Gold.

Over 2000 farmers drawn from Ukia ward in Kaiti Sub-County are beneficiaries of graft avocado scions  (Hass variety), courtesy of the Department of Agriculture, Irrigation, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperative Development, Makueni County.
The initiative, a product of public participation, is geared towards supporting the farmers to increase productivity and profitability in the avocado value chain. The program also aims to enhance market access and business linkages to the farmers.
The Hass avocado is a new variety that has been scientifically modified through grafting to significantly reduce its maturity period to between 2.5 years and 3 years from the typical period of 6 to 7 years.
According to Agriculture Chief Officer Daniel Ndolo, Hass Avocado is the new goldmine for modern farmers and urged farmers to plant more avocadoes.
 
This is because Hass-avocado does not require much labor and time to maintain. In addition, the demand for avocados is extremely high and can’t satisfy the current local demand and in the European countries.
 
Ndolo spoke on Tuesday at Kilala Chief’s Office where he launched the scions distribution exercise and handed over the scions to 15 grafters, who have been trained and will offer the grafting services to the earmarked farmers.
The County has so far distributed close to 60,000 improved Hass variety seedlings to farmers in the avocado growing areas and is at the forefront to transform the avocado value chain into a robust economic enterprise to impact positively on the livelihoods of the community.

Makueni County Feted for Stellar Performance in the implementation of NARIGP

Makueni County has been feted by the World Bank for commendable performance in the implementation of the National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP).
 
The County emerged position three for the period between 2019 and 2023 for satisfactorily implementing NARIGP in the 20 selected wards in Makueni.Trans-Nzoia and Nakuru Counties took the first and the second positions respectively.
NARIGP is a 5-year Government of Kenya project that is implemented through the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Fisheries and Irrigation with funding support from the World Bank.
 
The project’s goal is to increase agricultural productivity and profitability of targeted rural communities in selected Counties, and in the event of an Eligible Crisis or Emergency, to provide immediate and effective response.
 
According to the World Bank, Makueni County had funded more than 600 micro-projects across the four value chains namely mangoes, green grams, poultry and tomatoes.
 
In addition, the county had trained over 10,000 farmers on agriculture best practices and had adopted new technologies for increasing productivity. These were some of the county performance indicators used by the World Bank to rank the counties
According to the County Project Coordinator Paul Musyimi who received the award on behalf of the County on 7th of June 2023 in Mombasa, “We have supported over 700 groups and 24,000 farmers in Makueni to start micro-projects in tomatoes, poultry, green grams and mangoes.”
 
Musyimi also revealed that they had spent over Sh 700 Million since the inception of the project in 2017, to empower local farmers with the aim of increasing agricultural productivity and profitability.
 
Apart from funding and capacity-building farmers, a key premise of the National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP) is the importance of linking farmers or Common Interest Groups (CIGs) and Vulnerable and Marginalized Groups (VMGs) organized along priority Value Chains to markets.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Towards Livestock Feed Commercialization in Makueni.

Over 500 dairy farmers of Kitise Farmers Cooperative Society, who are also into large-scale production of hay have received a 4- wheel driven tractor that will boost pasture mechanized farm operations.
 
Previously, the farmers have been hiring tractor services at high cost rates to complement their existing farm equipment for production.
 
The donation is part of the livestock feed commercialization project which is being funded by the Mastercard Foundation and implemented by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) through Business Initiatives for Survival and Eradication of Poverty (BISEP) in partnership with the Department of Agriculture, Irrigation, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperative Development in Makueni.
 
According to Agriculture Executive Joyce Mutua, the program aims at increasing the feed resource base in Makueni through provision of farm equipment, distribution of pasture seeds and linkages to market. So far, close to 3000 farmers have benefitted from the initiative which is at the pilot phase.
 
Mutua spoke during the handing over of equipment ceremony on Monday at the Maps Office, and was flanked by officials from FAO and Agriculture and Livestock Chief officers Daniel Ndolo and Dr. Victoria Kyalo respectively.
 
Other farmer groups also benefited from the equipment donation.

National Mango Conference rekindles farmers’ hopes .

The three-day national mango conference came to an end on Thursday with thousands of farmers hoping to reap big from their mango farms and have their products be part of consignments to EU countries.
Today the delegates had a field visit to various mango farms, value-addition firms, and a tour of the Kalamba Fruit Processing Plant.
The climax of the conference was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Makueni Governor, H.E. Mutula Kilonzo Jr, and Cornelly Serem, Chairman, of the Agriculture, and Food Authority Board, for a stronger Kenyan mango industry and better markets.