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[farmerstrend]

The Role of Sunflowers in Integrated Pest Management and Sustainable Farming

In the world of agriculture, sunflowers are more than just pretty flowers swaying in the breeze. They’re powerful allies in the fight against pests and the quest for sustainability. By incorporating sunflowers into crop rotation and intercropping schemes, farmers can reap a host of benefits for both their crops and the environment. 1. Sunflowers as Natural Pest Control Sunflowers produce…

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Why development interventions in Kenya’s drylands fail

It’s only mid-morning in a small borderland village in Moyale in Kenya, but the temperature is already soaring. Globally, temperatures are rising due to human-caused global climate change. The team of researchers from the Center for Research and Development in Drylands (CRDD), the Feinstein International Centre, Tufts University, and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) Sussex is under a…

[farmerstrend]

Banana farmers’ resilience in face of global warming

Crop and animal production in Kenya and other parts of the world have borne the brunt of the effects of global warming. Oliver Omega, a banana farmer in Vihiga County, explaining how the crop is grown. Despite its vulnerability, agriculture is one of the primary contributors to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, followed closely by forestry, recent studies show. Kenya has witnessed climate change…

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Extension Service Providers in Kenya: A Challenge for Farmers in Kenya

The shortage of extension service remains a significant challenge for farmers in Kenya, aggravated by a declining number of agricultural officers recruited by the government. Photo Credit: APNI Despite the commitment by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development to improve the sector, the officers who retire, resign or die are often not replaced, with the government citing budgetary…

[farmerstrend]

Kenyan Farmers Receive $2M Boost from Africa Fertiliser Financing Mechanism

The Africa Fertiliser Financing Mechanism has launched a project to help deliver 8,000 tons of fertilisers to 100,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya to boost harvests and incomes. Representatives of the African Development Bank, African Fertilizer Financing Mechanism, the Government of Norway and Apollo Agriculture at the Nairobi launch of the Financing for Sustainable Agriculture Management…

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Parsley Farming Success Story From a Kiambu Farmer Earning Thousands

Stephen Wachira is one of the many farmers in Kenya who have achieved success through cultivating a variety of herbs. The farmer in Kimunya, located along Kenyatta Road in Kiambu County, grows a variety of herbs on his farm, including parsley, which helps him supplement his income. After months of searching for a more profitable crop, he finally decided to settle on parsley. Armed with a capital…

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JOB VACANCY: Farm Manager

Florius is a leading floriculture company, growing high-value flowers, that originate out of the company’s own breeding activities. Our mission is delivering premium quality summer flowers all over the world. Our flowers are cultivated in Kenya, Ethiopia and Colombia according to the highest international standards. Respect for people and the environment, combined with an ongoing emphasis on…

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Team of Global Experts to Develop Beneficial Nematode-based Biocontrol Solution to Fall Armyworm

CABI has joined a team of international experts to develop beneficial nematode-based biocontrol solutions to fight the devastating fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) in Africa. Entomopathogenic nematodes are tiny insect-killing worms, also called beneficial nematodes, and have been used for nearly a century as safer-to-use and more environmentally friendly biocontrol agents against insect…

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Empowering Youth in Agriculture: How Africa Harvest and ACRISAT are Transforming Semi-Arid Regions

Two international organisations that target food security and other agricultural interventions have intensified programmes to boost food production by the youth in several semi-arid regions. Taking advantage of the current rains season, Africa Harvest and ACRISAT, have scaled up a programme dubbed Drought-Tolerant Crops for Youth Jobs Creation to train and entice young people to engage in…

[farmerstrend]

A Mini Ginnery to Revive the Future of Cotton Industry in Kenya

Kirinyaga University may have just breathed new life into Kenya’s ailing cotton industry as varsity dons develop a portable cotton ginnery. For an industry that has been struggling to survive, this news came as a relief to cotton farmers, whose lives the invention is expected to change, and to a government pushing for job creation and self-reliance through manufacturing. The project, funded by…

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Machakos County to Become a Center of Investment Promotion and Facilitation in Promotion of Avocado, Coffee, and Cotton Value Chains.

Machakos County has been identified as one of the counties for the promotion of avocado, coffee, and cotton value chains. Cabinet Secretary for Investment, Trade, and Industry Rebecca Miano highlighted that Machakos is among the counties that have strategized to become centres of investment promotion and facilitation in industrial and value chain development following devolution. Doing so, Miano…

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Good News to Mango Farmers in Makueni as Govt Links Them to an Investor

Mango farmers in Makueni County stand to reap more benefits from their produce after the government found a new market outside Kenya, Makueni Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr has said. Governor Mutula said this on Thursday after meeting with the Presidential Economic Transformation Secretariat led by the Senior Advisor to the President Augustine Cheruiyot in his Wote office where they discussed…

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KALRO Signs Memorandum of Understanding with 2Blades

2Blades announced an important collaboration with Kenya’s leading agricultural research institution, the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), as part of its activities since launching its program on Asian Soybean Rust last year. The two organizations signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), during a recent meeting in Nairobi. The MOU expresses a shared desire to…

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From survival to thriving: Kenyan smallholder farmers embrace climate-smart innovations

With palpable joy, Pauline Mogambi cast an admiring gaze at the indigenous vegetables blooming on her farm in the northwestern Kenyan county of Nakuru, about 180 kilometers from the capital, Nairobi. The mother of two is an early adopter of conservation agriculture, which promotes soil health through minimal tillage alongside organic methods of controlling crop pests and diseases to boost yield.…

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Fake, Not Fake,  Gov't Politics and Doublespeak On Fertiliser Saga

As the fake fertiliser saga brews many questions remain unanswered as different agencies and the government labour to elucidate on the matter and defend the discovered anomalies. The matter was brought to the fore by a documentary, “Fertile Deception” by African Uncensored, which exposed the widespread circulation of counterfeit government fertiliser across the country posing a risk to food…

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KEPHIS Unveils State-of-the-Art Laboratory for Roots, Tubers, and Bananas

Farmers in the country will benefit from clean planting materials to enhance agricultural productivity and farm incomes, thanks to the establishment of a Ksh 260 million (USD 2 million) laboratory facility designed to expedite the testing and release of new varieties. Dr. Morag Ferguson, Project manager from IITA, (KEPHIS) Managing Director Prof. Theophilus Mutui and Elly Otieno, a scientist from…

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Stakeholders call for a holistic approach to managing Kenya’s dryland crop seed system

Collaboration among diverse seed value chain actors is essential to improving seed systems for dryland crops in Kenya and contributing to food security in an era marked by climate change. This holistic approach is essential at a time when sustainable agricultural practices are increasingly becoming pertinent in semi-arid and high-potential areas, as emphasized by participants attending a…