Agriculture in Kenya
-
KENYA, 2017/07/15
Rising domestic request for meat and dairy products is driving expansion in Kenya’s livestock industry, prompting the government to commission a new sector policy.
Drafting new policy
On June 6 the Kenyan government announced a new two-year project with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to draft a sustainable livestock policy that can help the country meet growing request and strengthen its food security.
The aim is to craft livestock policies through to 2050, accounting for factors such as climate change, frequent droughts and floods, epidemics and epizootics, and conflicts over land and water use.
-
KENYA, 2017/07/12
By adopting agroforestry and improved agricultural practices, a community in western Kenya has increased their gain and improved their living standards. They are instantly training other farmers to do the same.
Smallholder farms make up most of the remote village of Siwot in Kericho County. Part of the wider western Kenyan region, most farmers grow maize, beans and vegetables for subsistence, and coffee and sugarcane as cash crops. And like a lot of communities in western Kenya, and in the Nyando river basin in particular, they are aware of the potential that impact climate change will have on their lives and those of their children.
-
KENYA, 2017/01/17
Tea prices at the Mombasa auction kicked off 2017 on a high note, nearly touching a one-year record during last week's auction.
A market statement by the East African Tea Traders Association (EATTA) indicates that a kilogramme of made tea fetched Sh268 on average in Tuesday's trading compared with Sh260 in an before sale.
The volume traded last week though dropped by 667,483 tonnes in one of the major volume declines in recent months as dry weather persisted.
"The average price increased to Sh268 at the same time as compared to last week's Sh260," says EATTA chief executive Edward Mudibo. In a similar period last year, the highest price at the auction was Sh273 per kilo of made tea.
-
KENYA, 2016/06/19
Reducing a reliance on bulk black tea is a key objective for Kenya as it looks to boost revenue from one of its flagship agricultural sectors.
Kenya is the world’s leading exporter of black tea, which accounts for 95% of the country’s in general tea production, making it one of its major agricultural exports.
Tea exports generated earnings of KSh125.3bn ($1.23bn) in 2015, a 23% increase from the previous year. The jump in revenue was the result of higher prices due in large part to a weaker harvest, with 2015 crop yields at 399.2m kg, a 10% year-on-year decrease, according to data from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority (AFFA).
Prospects for 2016 are somewhat additional muted, with overseas tea sales predicted to generate between KSh115bn ($1.14bn) and KSh120bn ($1.19bn).
-
CHINA, 2016/03/23
Gladys Mwafungo, a senior agricultural officer in Kenya's coastal county of Kilifi and her five colleagues have sharpened their skills in rice production thanks to a two month training program sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce in June last year.
During an interview with Xinhua on Sunday evening, Mwafungo said her study tour to China's Yuan Longping Agricultural Hitech Institute exposed her to cutting edge technologies on production of hybrid rice.
"I went to China mid last year for an exchange program on hybrid rice production sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce. The two month training focused on technologies used in production of high yielding rice varieties," said Mwafungo.
-
KENYA, 2013/08/22
Rift Valley farmers have welcomed President Uhuru's proposed conference with Russian fertilizer manufacturers to help reduce the prices of the commodity.
Kenya Farmers Association director Kipkorir Menjo said dealing due with the manufacturers reduce bureaucracies and additional charges by importers which raises the prices.
Uhuru, who visited Russia before heading to China, met with the fertilizer producers part other Russian bussinessmen and discussed how to help cut down the costs of fertilizer for farmers. Uhuru urged the fertilizers to look into the possibility of setting up a fertlizer plant in the country. Musa Barno from the Kenya National Farmers Union as well backed Uhuru's plan on the fertilizer
-
KENYA, 2013/04/12
Thousands of farmers in western Kenya are successfully battling the invasion in their farms by a deadly parasitic weed called Striga, dubbed the violet vampire because of its beautiful violet flowers. As a consequence, they are enjoying higher yields of their number one staple, maize. This is thanks to the efforts of the Integrated Striga.
-
KENYA, 2013/04/03
Eleni LLC, a newly formed company led by CEO Dr. Eleni Gabre-Madhin, announced today that Morgan Stanley and International Finance Corporation (IFC) have both agreed to make an equity investment totalling about $7.5 million in the Kenya-based company which will incubate and support the formation of agricultural commodity exchanges across Africa, helping to promote food security.
-
BOTSWANA, 2013/04/02
Africa frequently experiences food shortages, although its 900 million farmers could feed the continent, inclunding supplying other parts of the world. But for this to happen they need the support of politicians.
-
KENYA, 2013/03/21
Kenya’s Limuru Tea on Tuesday said net profit for the past financial year shot the lights out, more than doubling to Sh101.8 million ($1.1 million). The agricultural firm attributed this outperformance to a surge in the assessment of its assets and higher turnover.
The firm’s underlying assets such as tea planted on its estates nearly doubled in value to Sh187 million ($2.1 million) after it marked them to market, Business Daily reported.
