Nairobi Business Magazine Issue#3 oct 2014 by BIC Agency Kenya

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Nairobi

Our Business is Marketing Yours

OCT. 2014 Issue #003

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Farming is the next Business for the youthâ&#x20AC;&#x153; Peter Wanjohi, Wanjohi Irrigation Services

Inside:

A look at the Cricket Farming How to Earn Rearing Redworms for Manure

Sell Rabbit Urine and Earn Good Money

Chemical Products

Hand tools

Drill Bits and Abrasive Discs

• Anchorﬁxing (Mechanical/Chemical) • Screws • Cold Galvaniser • Hire/Hammer drills • Generators Sales and Installation • Plant Installation • Special Rooﬁng • Rawl Bolts • Safefy Harness & Allied

Proﬁx Systems Limited Metal Products Nylon Products

Hire Equipement

CONTACT: INDUSTRIAL AREA , Nairobi Cell: +254 724 732 806 +254 (0) 20 2600133 P.O. Box 9728, NAIROBI,Kenya Email: info@proﬁxsystem.co.ke

From Editors Desk

Nairobi Editorial Committee Winfred Wanjiku Nicholas Kuria

Design & Layout BIC Agency

Sales and Marketing team

Amos Kamande Susan Wacu Tony Muiruri

The Nairobi Business is published monthly by BIC Agency. P.O.Box 51202 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya, Cell Phone: +254 723 22 10 22/ +254 739 52 84 94 3221022@gmail.com businessnairobi@gmail.com facebook.com/nairobibusiness

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Disclaimer

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herein, the publisher and its agents cannot be held responsible for any errors contained, or any loss incurred as a result. Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. The editor reserves the right to alter or cut copy. Articles submitted are deemed to have been cleared for publication. Advertisements, inserts and company contact details are printed as provided by the advertiser. BIC Agency cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or veracity of supplied material.

Nairobi Businesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Key Features BIC Agency publishes Nairobi Business Magazine monthly to provide the reading community with business, products and services information and links to the broader networks. It is intended to be a tool through which business information and opportunities can be disseminated to the regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s marketplace. All the back issues can be obtained upon request in digital format (PDF file) The past, current and future news briefs and activities are summarized and featured in the magazine. The magazine offers opportunity for companies, organisations and institutions in the region and beyond to highlight their products and services. Nairobi Business Magazine monitors

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Welcome to Nairobi Business once again. The October Issue focuses on some of the interesting opportunities in agri-business as the theme of the month. We have put together some invaluable information about agribusiness emerging trends. The magazine is strategically growing and we look forward to presenting you with very informative articles and news in other subsequent issues. Nairobi Business is an advertisement tool for the business people, both the SMEs and the big companies. The magazine advertisement charges are business friendly and the readership is arguably sizeable and steadily growing. We currently have a mailing list of close to ten thousand. It is good to mention that next Issue will be open and not confined to any theme. You are welcome to place your advertisement or write an article. We are open to any suggestions. Please feel free to send us an email on whatever you feel we could do to make the magazine better one. God bless you

Winfred Wanjiku

the formation and implementation of new businesses. From the business industry, the magazine collates information on business issues and problems for the purpose of alleviating barriers to the smooth development of business. Circulation / Target Readership: The magazine is intended for a readership within the region by persons and companies in diverse industries. Overall, the purpose of this publication is to stimulate and help persons in business or intending to be in business with information. It is also a tool to help the business owners raise their visibility in the market. The magazine is distributed electronically through our social media, mailing list and well packaged DVDs of back issues. We are quite strategic on the social media. The minimum size circulated is 28 pages

............................................................................................................................................................. Nairobi Business Magazine | Issue #003 | October 2014 |

Content <<< Growing Stevia

Stevia is commonly known as sweet herb. This plant has been widely grown in America but Kenyans are starting to grow the herb. Its leaves are sweet and will soon replace other sweeters. This present a good business in Kenya

Grow animal food in under 1 week >>>

You can easily sprout barley or wheat and have your fodder (grass) about 35 cm tall in less than one week.

Nairobi

<<<Redworms Rearing for business>>

This may look like a dirty business, but, a kilo of redworms is going for about KES 2000-3000. They worms reproduce very first. The you can also get very refined manure by feeding the worms with your kitchen waste.

Crickets More Nutritious than beef>>>>>

These little insects are going for KES 300400 per kilo in some parts of the country. You only feed them with some waste vegetable and they are good to go.

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You might consider rearing crickets

widely available, dirt-cheap, eco-friendly superfood that has more protein density per bite than beef and is chock-full of vitamins and minerals? Look no farther than the crickets in your backyard. That’s right. Those critters chirping away in your vegetable garden are more than suitable for human consumption, and with 16 to 21 grams of protein per 100 grams of cricket, the little brown bugs make for a great post- or pre-workout snack. Insects have served as a nutritional, tasty and safe food source for people for tens of thousands of years, all over the planet. Today insect eating is rare in the developed world, but eating insects is a common practice in over several countries. Insects remain a popular food in many developing regions of Central and South America, Africa, Australia and Asia. There are an estimated 1,462 species of recorded edible insects according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Insects are very nutritious; they tend to be high in protein and low in carbohydrates. Let’s take the cricket as an example: 100 grams of cricket contains: 121 calories, 12.9 grams of protein, 5.5 g. of fat, 5.1 g. of carbohydrates, 75.8 mg. calcium, 185.3 mg. of phosphorous, 9.5 mg. of iron, 0.36 mg. of thiamin, 1.09 mg. of riboflavin, 3.10 mg. of niacin and .05% fat. Compare that with 100 grams of ground beef, which, although it contains more protein, about 23.5 g. to be exact, it has 288.2 calories and an enormous amount of fat, in fact 21.2 grams worth! Like any food, how you prepare them can change their status from healthy to not so healthy. The difference however between a regular chocolate chip cookie and one made with crickets is that the one made with crickets has a lot more protein! It’s a nobrainer to choose the chocolate chip cookie with crickets, or as entomophagists call them, “chocolate chirp” cookies, over any other brand! The little fat crickets do have is the good kind, unlike the cholesterol-raising fat found in beef and pork. Brooklyn-based Exo and San Francisco company Bitty Foods were quick to hop on these insects’ fitness-boosting potential early on. Both businesses offer cricket-flour energy bars in non-insect-evoking flavors like cashewginger and cacao nut. A uniquely low-impact and convenient form of cultivating high-protein food, cricket farms can fit in a bedroom closet or garage and require minimal effort and investment. Farming your own herd gives you a degree of quality control you won’t find in the local pet store. And if crickets Nairobi|6

become a regular part of your diet, breeding them yourself will be cost-efficient. For those of you who can get past our culture’s bug-munching taboos, what follows is a guide for starting and maintaining your own cricket farm. Step One: Preparation Get a high-sided bucket which will hold 500 crickets, which are more than enough for starting out. Make sure the bin’s walls are smooth so the crickets can’t hop over them and escape, and check that there’s proper ventilation so the insects can breathe. Because they’ll need a constant source of water, provide a water tray that’s shallow enough that they can’t drown, or purchase a watering pad. Step Two: Starting Out You can purchase your crickets in bulk from other farmers. They’ll cost about a dime each. Put them in the bin and make sure they’re kept at a regular temperature of about 30 degrees celcius. Feed the adults plants like cucumber, morning glory, and pumpkin. What you feed them can affect how they taste, so feel free to experiment. Make sure there are no pesticides in what you give your crickets because the chemicals would kill them, and check their food regularly for mold as well. Step Three: Breeding Get a small tray and fill it a few inches with clean topsoil: this is where the females will lay their eggs. The environment must be kept moist, so spray it every day. Once they’ve been laid, you’ll be able to see the eggs—they resemble little grains of saffron rice poking out of the soil. Next, remove the tray and keep it incubated in a hot, humid climate (90 percent relative humidity), until the babies hatch within 7 to 10 days. Be aware that the eggs won’t

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hatch if they aren’t kept warm. You can use a heat lamp or a heating pad for this—and make sure to spray the soil with water every day. The babies, which will be about the size of a pinhead, need to be kept in a separate container until they’re big enough for the main farm. Feed them high-protein foods and they’ll grow quickly. In about a month, they’ll reach full size; a few weeks later, they’ll be ready to breed. According to Andrew Brentano, cofounder of Tiny Farms, a company focused on building the world’s first opensource edible-bug-farming kit, there are five basics for successfully cultivating crickets: • Clean food and water • Sufficiently fresh air flow • A consistent temperature of 30 degrees celcius • 90 percent relative humidity for the first week or two of life, followed by less than 50 percent humidity • Enough space so the growing crickets can spread out and exist comfortably Once you’ve mastered these steps, which won’t take long, simply keep the system in rotation. Before you know it, you’ll be a full-fledged cricket farmer. Harvest your crop, and then boil it in rolling water and cook with some salt, basil, and olive oil for a tasty snack that’s loaded with protein and good fats. Most people of women are embracing this kind of farming in Busia Kenya and a plate of this delicacy is going for between KES 300-1000 in those areas of the country and even on the Uganda side of the border.

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Stevia Sweetener; the Herb for Real Business

You want to be a flourishing stevia grower. While the herb’s native locale may make it appear somewhat exotic, it has proved to be quite adaptable and capable of being cultivated in different climatic zones. A sweetener derived from the South American herb stevia, Stevia rebaudiana, is taking the global market place by storm, promising a zero-calorie product that also has the appeal of being natural. The global market for stevia sweeteners has already hit $500 million following US regulatory approval and could reach 10 billion dollars in a few years. Stevia, which originated in Paraguay but has been used for decades in Japan and other Asian nations, is increasingly becoming an significant crop in Kenya. The leaves of this impressive plant are 30 times sweeter than sugar; with zero calories where as pure extract is 300 times sweeter than sugar. This sweet herb is likely to become the major source of high potency sweetener for the growing natural food market, in the years to come. Stevia finds its use as a natural sweetener, replacing the chemical sweeteners and even table sugar; the sweetness in leaf is due to the presence of an intensive-sweetening agent called stevioside and the leaf by itself is about 20 to 30 times sweeter than sugar. The leaf has stevioside of 10-12% on dry weight basis. Stevia is a new promising renewable raw material for the food market. The market potential for this natural sweetener is still untapped. Although stevia is not considered an easy herb to grow, it has proved to be quite adaptable and capable of being cultivated in diverse climatic zones. The mature plant grows to 60 cm height. Use the leaves, fresh or dried,

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directly in hot drinks. You can use ground powder or liquid in baking or desserts. Organic gardeners in particular should find stevia an ideal addition to their yield. Though nontoxic, stevia plants have been found to have insect-repelling tendencies. Their very sweetness, in fact, may be a kind of natural defense mechanism against aphids and other bugs that find it not to their taste. Perhaps that’s why crop-devouring grasshoppers have been reported to bypass stevia under cultivation. Then, too, raising stevia yourself, whether in your back yard or on your balcony is another positive way you can personally embrace. It is best to propagate stevia plants from cuttings or tissue culture from a plant that has proven to be successful. Growing stevia from seed normally has a very low germination percentage, sometimes only 10% this can be increased by selecting the very dark seeds and plants only those. Through this, germination should exceed 85%. However, stevia grown from seed may or may not be sweet. Keep in mind that not all stevia plants are created equal in terms of stevioside content, and, hence, sweetness. It’s therefore a good idea to try to determine if the plants you’re buying have been grown from cuttings whose source was high in stevioside. Because tender young stevia plants are especially sensitive to low temperatures, it’s important that you wait until the danger of frost is past and soil temperatures favorable before transplanting them into your garden. Avoid over watering after transplanting. The

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recommended spacing is 20 cm × 20 cm. the plant requires full sun. Light, sandy, well drained soil with a pH of 6.7 to 7.2. It is always good to use a standard garden fertilizer. Do not use a lawn fertilizer or fertilizers with high nitrogen. Adding extra Boron will help keep the Stevioside level high. If soil cold be mounded up into a raised bed, this would be even better. Apply a layer of mulch, such as grass clippings, or bark mulch. This will help keep roots cool, preserve water, keep the leave clean from soil and suppress weeds. There are no known diseases and pests in Kenya as yet. How do you harvest the plant? Harvesting entire plant as flower buds appear. Harvest only in the morning for the highest glycoside/ sugar content, whether pinching tips or entire plants. Because it is a member of the Aster family, once flowering has begun, not a single normal leaf will be produced. Removing flower heads is not effective. Failure to harvest plants before several flowers have opened, will allow these flowers to impart a bitter flavor to the leaves. Harvesting is done by cutting the entire plant at the base. With a rubber band, tie loose branches together and hang upside down to dry under warm, dark, drafty conditions for 2 to 4 days. Avoid using food dehydrators or open oven doors as this will tend to cause a bitter flavor. Remove any small branches and grind leaves into powder using electric coffee grinder for 25-30 seconds. Food processors are not as effective because of their slow RPMs. Dried green stevia powder will last almost indefinitely or at least until the next harvest. Leaves can be used raw or cooked. It has a very sweet flavor. The leaves contain ‘stevioside’, a substance that is 300 times sweeter than sucrose. Other reports say that they contain ‘estevin’ a substance that, weight for weight, is 150 times sweeter than sugar. The dried leaves can be ground and used as a sweetener or soaked in water and the liquid used in making preserves. The powdered leaves are also added to herb teas. The leaves are sometimes chewed by those wishing to reduce their sugar intake. The leaves can also be cooked and eaten as a vegetable. Many who hesitate to consume artificial food additives may prefer stevia because it is all natural. Stevia is calorie free, and therefore dose not impact blood sugar levels, unlike sucrose (refined sugar). Stevia, when used in place of sugar, may also reduce the incidence of tooth decay.

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Rabbit urine business taking bio-fertiliser market by storm The use of chemical fertilizers has led to long standing agricultural land in the country to experience a decline in fertility. This is realized by the farmers, given the fertility of the soil affects the yields obtained. In order to restore the fertility of the land, some farmers who are compassionate about organic farming have embraced the use of rabbit urine bio-fertilizer. The urine is fermented and processed into a useful organic fertilizer for crops. Today the management of organic farming with the system is still limited, but with increasing a awareness of farmers, gradually the use of environmentally friendly organic fertilizers will be the needs of farmers. Some years ago, rabbit rearing was mainly a childhood activity for boys in many households. Rabbits were mostly kept as pets and to provide animal protein. However, high returns in the business enterprise have pushed many farmers to go for the economic rewards that come with rabbit farming. A farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s association has started cottage industries in the Rift Valley and Kisii regions of the country to manufacture bio-fertilizer using rabbit urine. The business targets rural communities who form cooperatives. Kenya Com Rabbit Consortium Limited (KCRC), which was launched in December 2013, buys rabbit urine from farmers for biofertilizer production. After processing the liquid fertilizer, it is packaged in different quantities ready for market. Research conducted by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kari) for the organization, shows that rabbit urine is rich in macro-nutrients needed by plants for nourishment. Farmers are already embracing the idea of supplying urine Nairobi|18

to our factories, a move that has also boosted rabbit keeping in these areas. By the time of going to the media, the organization had paid the urine suppliers in Kisii, Bomet and Eldoret more than Sh12 million according to the coordinating director at KCRC, Agnes Sorim. The organize pays as high as Sh350 for a litre of urine. This venture has seen the organisation open industries in Nairobi, Kipkorgot (Eldoret), Nyamataro in Kisii as well as Chengenwo and Kongasis in Bomet County. Scientifically, The average normal water intake for rabbits is 50-150 mL/kg body weight daily. This is the general expectation of water consumption, since rabbits that are fed large amounts of water-containing foods, such as leafy vegetables, will drink less water than those that are on a dry diet of hay and pellets. Normal urine production is generally expected to be between 120-130 mL/kg body weight per day. The rabbit house has to be built in a proper way to collect the urine. The housing design allows the urine trickle through a wire mesh onto a plastic sheets to a gutter that drains it into a collection bucket. It takes three to four rabbits to collect a litre of urine per day. After the collection of the urine by the farmer, the urine is then delivered to the processing center where every farmer has a record book for all the deliveries. The organization take urine from the registered farmers only. The bio-fertilizer can be used as folia feed as well as a soil conditioner. It is also be used as an insecticide during farming of vegetables and maize. The rabbit urine biofertilizer is mixed with water in a ratio of 200-500 millilitres to 20 litres of water depending on the soil condition, and the mixture is sprayed on the crop land. The packaged product, Rabbitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Urine Extra Organic Liquid Manure, which

is selling at Sh650-1000 per litre, is already in the market. The organic processing takes one -and-a-half months to be ready for the market. The natural liquid manure has been shown to greatly improve the composition, quality, water-holding ability and humus content of soil. The local farmers not only earn money from their animals, but also get advice on how to use locally available dry feeds for the rabbits, which help in fattening the animal. As one expert put it, now we are trying to revert to the old sustainable systems which our farmers had known all along - and that’s what they’d been practising. Somewhere along the line some technologies came. There’s nothing bad about technologies so long as they are sustainable. Now we discover that the old ways had been found to be much more sustainable than the present methods and especially since the inputs are becoming very difficult and expensive and they have been found to show some negative effects on the soils. The lesson to be learned from this is that we’ve already had sustainable systems in the past and they have been working.

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October 2014 | Issue #003 | Nairobi Business Magazine |

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rearing redworm for bio-fertiliser

ermicompost (also called worm compost, vermicast, worm castings, worm humus or worm manure) is the base-product of the breakdown of natural material by earthworms. Vermicompost is a nutrient-rich, organic fertilizer, and soil conditioner. This kind of farming process is taking place in Kenya and youth in particular are embracing the technology. The process of making vermicompost is called vermicomposting. Vermicompost contains not only worm castings, but also bedding materials and organic wastes at a mixture of stages of decomposition. It also contains worms at different stages of growth and other microorganisms associated with the process. Earthworms’ castings in the home garden usually contain 5 to 10 times more additional nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium than the adjacent soil. Secretions in the intestinal tracts of the worms, along with soil passing through the worms, make the nutrients needed by plants more concentrated and available for plant uptake. 1 kg of these worms is going for between KES 2000-3000 in Kenya, and there are so many youth doing it around Kiambu County. The worms reproduce very fast and you can soon start harvesting for sale. It is easy to get liquid fertilizer by washing through the beddings and collecting the liquid at one end. The liquid fertilizer is then diluted and used as foliar spray on the crops. In fundamental nature, worms work as natural bioreactors. The procedure generates organic fertilizers, permits harmless removal of certain organic wastes and decreases the necessity for landfill. Vermicomposting can be performed all year-round, provided that environmental conditions remain within tolerable limits. For improved efficiency, care should be taken to make sure that organic feedstock and ecological circumstances allow worms to reproduce productively and put up with climatic fluctuations. Given appropriate conditions, vermicomposting appears to offer a moderately uncomplicated answer to the management of compostable organic wastes. When it comes to starting up your vermicomposting arrangement there are four most important components to consider: 1) Container (worm bin), 2) Bedding,

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3) Waste material, and of course 4) Composting worms. Worm bin: There are an extensive range of options when it comes to choosing the kind of worm bin you want to set up. If you are the handy type you may want to build your own design. A perfect bin will be opaque and will be relatively shallow. Red worms, and earth worms in general, are very sensitive to direct light – it can lead to considerable stress and even death if they unable to escape from it. As far as depth goes, you don’t need to worry too much about exact dimensions but you definitely do want to put more emphasis on the surface area – this allows for greater oxygenation of the bin and also allows the worms to spread out more. It is recommended you either set up multiple small bins or one decent sized bin. The larger the system the more buffering capacity it will have. For example, you may have a very large outdoor bin (5X3X3 feet). The sheer size of this system makes it very worry free. Even if there are unfavorable conditions in one section of the bin, the worms can easily move into many other favorable zones. Another important thing to mention is aeration. If you are using a typical plastic bucket type of bin it’s not a bad idea to drill some holes in the lid and along the sides prior to adding your bedding/worms. This allows for more air flow in and out of the bin. If you have your bin sitting on some sort of tray you may even desire to drill a few holes in the bottom of the bin – a great way to ensure bin contents don’t get too waterlogged. Bedding: Composting worms not only need food, but also some sort of habitat to live in – bedding materials provide both. Ideal worm living conditions can be created initially by adding lots of bedding material with a decent amount of waste material, and likely some water to ensure adequate moisture condition. People often refer to the ideal composting moisture content as being similar to that of a wrung-out sponge. Higher moisture levels do tend to work better for worm composting, but this is definitely a good guideline to start with, especially when using a water-tight bin. Some great materials for bedding include shredded cardboard, shredded newspaper, aged straw, coconut coir,

fall leaves and peat moss. Worms seem to absolutely love rotting leaves. The downside of using leaves is the fact that they don’t really absorb much water – this is why the ideal bedding will consist of a mix of leaves and brown cardboard, another material worms seem to have a real affinity for. Bedding materials will typically need to be moistened before worms are added. In fact, a practice highly recommended when starting a new bin is mixing bedding with a decent amount of moist food waste, then simply letting the mixture sit in a closed bin for a week or so before adding worms. This way you are creating a very friendly environment for your worms to live in. Aside from activating the important microbial community, this also allows for moisture to makes its way throughout the bin materials. Waste Materials (Worm Food): Usually people set up their own worm bin at home so they can compost their food scraps and leftovers. Unfortunately not all waste materials are created equal from a worm’s standpoint, or a human health standpoint for that matter, so you need to know a little on what should and should not be added to an indoor worm bin. You can use this on the worm bin: • Vegetable & fruit waste (citrus fruit should be added in moderation when using smaller bins) • Starchy materials – bread, pasta, rice, potatoes – all in moderation (beginners may want to avoid these altogether initially) • Aged animal manures (careful with rabbit and poultry – need lots of bedding to balance) • Shredded newspaper, used paper towels (common sense applies here), cardboard (great idea to add these carbon rich materials at the same time you add any wet food waste) • Egg shells (best if ground up and in moderation) • Coffee grounds • Tea bags These waste may not be used in the worm bin: • Human/pet waste • Non biodegradable materials • Dairy/meat • Oils/grease • Harsh chemicals These are fairly basic guidelines and of course there are exceptions under certain circumstances. Letting your waste material sit for a period of time is better than adding it right away. Often people assume that the worms feed directly on the waste materials themselves. In a sense they do, but more specifically they are slurping up the microbial soup that forms on rotting materials. If you throw in a bunch of fresh carrot peelings the worms won’t be able to start processing the material until sufficient microbial colonization has occurred. A fantastic way to ensure that your new bin takes off successfully is to mix a decent quantity of waste material in with your fresh bedding, then simply letting the bin sit for a week or so before adding the worms. This can be a challenge for those people anxious to get started, but it will go a long way in terms of ensuring your success. Should you choose not to wait, obviously if you get your worms at the same time you get your bin it doesn’t make sense to wait, it would highly be recommended that you at least try to add some partially rotting materials so that the worms have something to feed on.

Composting Worms: One of the common misconceptions amongst vermicomposting beginners is that any earthworm can be used for worm composting, or kept in an indoor bin in general. Most of the yard worms are of the “anecic” type – that is to say they are soil dwelling worms that create burrows and tend to lead a somewhat solitary existence. They need their space. The worms ideally suited for composting on the other hand are referred to as “epigeic”. This group tends to live in rich organic material, and is adapted to crowding and warmer temperatures. So it’s not difficult to see why epigeic worms would do much better in an indoor composting bin than their soil dwelling cousins. By far, the most common variety of composting worm is Eisenia fetida – also known as the red worm or red wiggler. If you are looking to start up your own worm composting bin this is definitely the worm for you. There are other species of composting worm. So where does one get a hold of some of these worms? Well there are various options. The easiest, but most expensive, is to simply buy them. There are a wide variety of online merchants who will sell them to you, or you may be able to track down a local supplier. In general worms are pretty expensive although decent discounts tend to be given on larger orders, but it’s amazing how fast you can build a large thriving population starting with only a few kilos of worms. Another option is to track down someone else with a worm bin in your area and ask them to share. Composting worms (E. fetida) don’t typically occur in “nature”, but there is a decent chance of finding some on a local farm if they keep aged manure piles. When it comes to adding worms to a new system, always stay on the side of caution. A widely accepted recommendation is to add 0.45Kgs of worms for each sq ft of bin surface area you have. So if your bin is 1.5 X 2 ft (width x length) it should be able to handle 1.36 Kgs of worms. But to be safe, you would rather add 0.45Kgs of worms to a bin this size and let the population reach a population equilibrium on its own. Red worms reproduce very rapidly under favorable conditions so it shouldn’t take too long.

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October 2014 | Issue #003 | Nairobi Business Magazine |

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Advertisement Proposal We are pleased to introduce to you Nairobi Business eMagazine. This is a magazine that is published and circulated electronically every month by BIC Agency. By doing electronic circulation we manage to keep the advertisement cost down for the advertiser. eMagazine potentially can reach more readers at a lower cost than tradtional print. Electronic distribution is not limited to any geographic location by the very reason that internet is not limited. The magazine targets the online community and the people who basically have an email and internet access. We drop the magazine in their inbox. BIC Agency is strategic on the Social Media to be able to promote the magazine and increase the readership. We have a mailing that is growing everyday through which we do primary circulation of the magazine. You get Tripple Beneﬁt Once we you pay for the advert placement (We are currently selling full page space), we give you an extra page for article. You can proﬁle your products or services in an editorial. We then promote your Advert seperately on our social media as photo post through the month the magazine is running. Work Process • Client book for advertisement space • BIC Agency raise invoice • Client make payment • Clients avail artwork and article

• BIC Agency promotes the advert artwork on the social media • BIC Agency place all the adverts and articles in the eMagazine • BIC Agency publishes the magazine • The magazine is distributed and delivered electronically.

How much does it cost to advertise? The current rate of advertisement is KES 6500 per full page full color advert. This is 5% what a printed magazine would be charging for the same advertisement space and far lesser distribution.

Readership We currently have have about 5000 subscribers’ emails to deliver to and we eﬀectively target to have 40% of this delivery being read.

Back Issues All the back issues will be available online. That means, your advert will still be available in the future for those who will come later into our basket of circulation and read the magazine. Get your copy from www.issuu.com/bicagency

We have our ‘own‘ social community of about 50,000 followers and generically can reach >500K on the social media. Our target is to engage our primary social network which is directly interested in what we are doing. BIC Agency also does blogging activities which generate readership activities. How the magazine is circulated • The reader can access the magazine through two means: • The eMagazine is directly delivered into the reader’s email from where he/she can download and read. • Every issue is hosted online. The reader then can read it online or download a copy on the PC or other portable devices. The reader get the link to access the magazine. The reader gets a free copy Currently all the subscriptions are free and the readers can get the magazine delivered into their email inbox free.

The way forward? Please contact BIC Agency for your booking. We will charge you KES 1500 for artwork if you don’t have a ready design. Contact: BIC Agency P.O. 51202-00100 Nairobi businessnairobi@gmail.com 3221022@gmail.com +254 723 22 10 22 +254 739 52 84 94 (Emails are more eﬀective for us)

Karibuni Sana

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Is Hydroponics Fodder a Viable Option for Feeding Kienyenji Chicken and other livestock?

lthough the methods of hydroponic fodder production date back to the 1930â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, there is renewed interest in hydroponic fodder as a feedstuff for sheep, goats, and other livestock. Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil. Only moisture and nutrients are provided to the growing plants. There are many advantages to hydroponics. Hydroponic growing systems produce a greater yield over a shorter period of time in a smaller area than traditionally-grown crops. There is a reduction or exclusion of pesticides and herbicides because the plants are in a more protected growing environment. Hydroponics is a year-round growing system that produces a consistent quantity and quality of plant material, regardless of outside weather. Fodder (livestock feed) can be grown hydroponically much the same as vegetables, flowers, and other plants. Hydroponic fodder systems are usually used to sprout cereal grains, such as barley, oats, wheat, sorghum, and corn, or legumes, such as alfalfa, clover, or cow peas. Barley is the most commonly grown forage, because it usually gives the best yield of nutrients. Forage mixtures are another option.

framework of shelves on which metal or plastic trays are stacked. After soaking overnight, a layer of seeds is spread over the base of the trays. During the growing period, the seeds are kept moist, but not saturated. They are supplied with moisture and (sometimes) nutrients, usually via drip or spray irrigation. Holes in the trays facilitate drainage and the waste water is collected in a tank. The seeds will usually sprout within 24 hours and in 5 to 8 days have produced a 6 to 8 inch high grass mat. After the mat is removed from the tray, it can go into a feed mixer or be hand-fed to livestock. Livestock will eat the whole thing: seeds, roots, and grass. There is minimal waste. Livestock may not eat the fodder initially because it is novel, but should soon learn to eat it with relish. Hydroponic fodder systems make very efficient use of water and land. While it is possible to grow hydroponic fodder in any building, including a garage or basement, a greenhouse is ideal because temperature, light, and humidity can be precisely controlled. Efficient, yearround production of green fodder is not possible unless environmental conditions are optimal. For this reason, hydroponic growing systems usually require significant investment.

A hydroponic fodder system usually consists of a Nairobi|26

Hydroponic fodder systems come in a range of sizes and capacities. Large fodder sheds may produce several tons of fodder per day, whereas a mini-fodder system may produce only small quantities per day. It is possible to build your own system, or a “turn-key” system can be purchased from a commercial company. Investments range from a few hundred dollars to six figures. As feed for livestock Fodder sprouts are tender and young, the equivalent of fresh green grass. As such, they are highly palatable and nutritious to all types and classes of livestock. On a dry matter basis, hydroponic fodder compares favorably with other nutritious feedstuffs. In a nutshell, you can sprout barley or wheatgrass using the following procedure for animal fodder: Procedure: • Weigh 2.5-2.7 Kgs of barley seeds for one grow tray of about 1 meter by 0.7 meters • Wash the seeds strictly in a plastic until the water is clean • Discard the floating seeds or husks and chaff • Make a solution of 1 ml JIK in 1 liter of water • Soak the seeds in JIK solution prepared in #4 above for 10 minutes to kill fungi • Rinse the seeds twice with plain water • Soak the seeds for 4 hours to soften the hard cover • Disinfect the try by washing it in the JIK solution prepared in #4 above • Spread the seeds in the tray evenly leaving a 1 inch space around the edge of the tray. • Seeds germinate in darkness, so cover the tray seeds with some piece of clothe for two days to germinate. • Water three times per day • From the 2nd day, water using hydroponic nutrients. Dilute 40 ml of the hydroponic nutrients in 20 liters of water. (Hydroponics nutrients may not be necessary, but you can easily buy them from the shops) • Wash the trays in JIK solution when starting every new grow

After 5-7 days you can feed your animals with the fodder. Feeding: 1. Cattle (young one) a. 3.5% of the live weight 2. Cow (Mature) a. Eat one tray about 15-20Kg and then 10 Kg dry matter (One tray of fodder is equivalent to 8 Kgs of dairy meal) b. If produces less than 20 Kgs, don’t give dairy meal c. If produces over 30 liters give 3 Kgs of dairy meal d. Give 150 grams of mineral supplement 3. Bulls (Small) a. 3.5% of the live weight 4. Bulls (Fattening) a. 14 Kgs fodder b. Whole maize meal 1/2 Kgs c. 8 Kgs dry matter d. 100 grams of mineral supplement Note: This feeding will see 1.2 Kgs live weight gain per day 5. Pigs a. Weaning 1 Kg fodder b. Rearing 2.5 Kgs fodder c. Fattening 4.5 Kgs fodder d. Sow out of season 4.5 Kgs fodder e. Sow in season 7 Kgs fodder 6. Poultry a. Kienyenji 100 % fodder b. Broilers 50% fodder and 50% feed or 50% Copra c. Layers same as broiler but add 14 grams Calcium 7. Rabbits 100% fodder Requirement 1. Housing • Cool place about 17-25 degree celcius about 25 degree will develop fungi • Shade net 2. Aluminium trays 3. Hydrophonics nutrients 4. Seeds Barley (Botch Variety) 5. Low salinity water

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October 2014 | Issue #003 | Nairobi Business Magazine |

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Towards starting Kienyeji Chicken business

ou will realise that free range chicken farming is actually what we call Kienyeji chicken farming in Kenya. Ever since introduction the broiler to our kitchen table, a lot of farmers abandoned Kienyeji chicken and went straight into broiler farming. However, with the advent of a health conscious market place and the unreasonable expenses that go with caged poultry farming, it’s about time farmers adopted uncaged poultry practices. So if one is trying to become a poultry billionaire, why even consider free-range livestock? It’s one thing to start a chicken farm, but to start an actual business out of it is something else entirely. You are not only going to become a chicken farmer, but a businessperson as well, depending on what markets you want to target and what part of the chicken industry you want to tap into. In the

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chicken industry there are two main sectors: Layers, which are chickens bred and raised to produce eggs, or broilers, chickens raised and bred to be slaughtered. Whatever sector you choose, you have to make responsible managerial and financial decisions to make your chicken farm business a profitable one. Firstly, formulate a business plan. This is one of the most important things to draw up as part of your operation. It tells of what goals you wish to achieve and how you intend to get there. It’s also a plan of how you want to operate your business from not just a producer’s standpoint, but the banker’s, lawyer’s, accountant’s and even possibly the hired hand’s stand point. Secondly, have land, capital and equipment. You cannot start up nor maintain a chicken farm or a chicken farming business

without these dire necessities. You will need buildings to raise your chickens in, whether they are barns or hutches depending on how you want to raise your chickens: conventional or freerange? Land is to have the buildings on and to grow crops on to feed your chickens. Equipment and machinery are needed to clean barns, dispose of dead stock, and work crops among others. Thirdly, take a decision how to best raise your chickens. There are two main ways to raise them. Conventional systems have chickens confined to barns that are temperature and photoperiod controlled areas. Free-range systems allow your chickens to just about have the run of the farm to behave as naturally as possible. Fourthly, decide what sectors of the poultry industry you wish to pursue. Ultimately there are two types to choose from: broilers, which are chickens grown for meat, or layersâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; chickens raised for their eggs. However, there are also the other sectors of the industry that you can pursue. Eggs which are not to be put on the market for human consumption (these can be from both broilers and layers) are incubated and the chicks hatched and raised until they are at the right age to be sold to farms to be raised as layers or broilers. Often the business of incubating eggs and raising chicks is separate from that of raising the chickens themselves. There is also the part of slaughtering chickens for meat that is a separate sector in itself you may wish to pursue. Fifthly, find a niche market, if possible. If the area you are in is popular for raising chickens a certain way (more conventional than free-range), you may wish to pursue a niche market that targets the consumerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interest in free-range chickens rather than the conventionally-raised ones. Make yourself known to potential customers and consumers. Advertise yourself by simply letting other people know you have eggs or meat you want to sell. Often selling by word-of-mouth is a lot cheaper and still the most popular means of advertising than paying for an advertisement in the local newspaper that may get read by only a few people. However, there is no harm in doing that either, nor is there any harm in setting up a website promoting your product. Sixthly, keep up with records and accounting of your business and operation. This is so that you can always tell if you are making money or not.

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