MESPT
M ICRO E NTERPRISES S UPPORT P ROGRAMME T RUST
ACTIVITY BULLETIN COAST REGION
enhanced competitiveness of enterprises
The projects funded by Royal Danish Embassy
MESPT
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Contents
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Editorial
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Mpeketoni embraces lucrative Chili farming
Value addition in coconut industry gives farmers a new lease of life
Kilifi dairy farmers embrace for high profits amid processor’s capacity expansion
Global certification lifts Taita Macadamia profile
Malindi mango plant ready for the first harvest
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Moringa: Taita’s miracle crop
Passion Fruits thrives in Kwale despite obstacles
Taita farmers advised to tap vegetable production
The overall objective of MESPT is to promote economic growth, create employment and alleviate poverty through support to enterprises in all sectors of the economy. MESPT works through intermediaries that provide financial or business services to improve the performance of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). ACTIVITY BULLETIN COAST
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icro Enterprise Support programme Trust (MESPT) was started with the mandate to take over the activities of the Micro Enterprises Support Programme (MESP) that was implemented by the government of Kenya and European delegation between 1997-2003. This mandate has now been expanded with increase in programme activities supported mainly by the Danish government. The Agriculture Business Development Programme (ABDP), a component designed to address the constraints of competitiveness in various value chain in agriculture in both Eastern and Coast regions, has now moved to the second phase and is now incorporated in MESPT programme. The programme, which has now evolved into a tripartite arrangement that links producers, financial institutions and Small and Medium Enterprises, has had far reaching impacts that have commercialized farming. Financial service component makes wholesale loans to organizations that in turn lend to tailor made products for enterprises and producers. ABDP has a broad area covering covering the whole of Coast province and a sizeable part of Eastern province. The new model, rather than a systemic series of intervention is based on a planned and targeted approach. The impact of the MESPT-ABDP has further been boosted by the intergration of the Natural Resource Management Programme (NRMP) that is aimed at creating private sector support to influence poverty alleviation and strengthening of the MSME sector� The programme is now supporting value chains in coconut, mangoes, chili, vegetables, passion fruits, macadamia and dairy farming in Coast region. Apart from capacity building in these value chains, the programme has given technical support to both SMEs and producers to improve the standards and quality of the products, which has helped in global certification and foreign market access.
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Workers at Equator Kenya Ltd preparing crates for the next harvest season. Over 1000 farmers from Mpeketoni are farming chili. Edith Njoki, a farmer in Mpeketoni tending her chili nursery
Mpeketoni embraces lucrative Chili farming Farmers in Mpeketoni are abandoning cotton farming for the lucrative chili farming that is less vulnerable to pests, diseases and global market forces that has seen those growing cotton and cashew nuts earn fluctuating prices every harvest season. The region is endowed with good soil fertility and reliable rainfall, giving the residence an opportunity to embrace new commercial ventures to diversify the current food crops, fruits, cotton and cashew nuts farming. For Daniel Irungu, who has prepared half an acre piece of land to transplant seedlings this season when rain comes, chili farming is his new commercial frontier, which has not disappointed for the last two years. “I am preparing to do chili farming this year in a bigger scale than I have never done before. This is the crop of the future since the returns are high and it is not vulnerable to pests,” Irungu said, adding that the crop is perennial and is harvested for up to three years when the weather conditions are favourable. Chili farming in Mpeketoni, where close to 1000 farmers are already involved, is as a result of support given by Micro Enterprises Support Programme Trust- Agriculture Business Development (MESPTABD), which linked them to a processer in Malindi, who contracts IN FIGURES
Sh. 10 Sh. 50 Sh. 6M 1,000
bonus paid per kg
amount paid per kg amount MESPT provided
farmers already in the programme
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them every year to provide raw materials for processing chili that is exported to Japan and United States Markets. The managing director of the Equator Kenya Ltd, located in Malindi Jan Van Casteren says that chili from Kenya is very popular due to its high quality for use as food stuff and as well as industrial uses where it is used to manufacture tear gas. The processing plant is able to crush 5 tonnes of raw chili daily. “We have adopted a contractual model with the farmers to guarantee them sustainable prices as well reliable market,” Casteren said, adding that farmers in Coast province are yet to satisfy the global market of the chili. The company is also collecting chili from farmers in Kilifi, South Coast and Tana Delta who were able to supply 300,000 kilos of dried chili last season. Chili from the country is preferred also due to its traceability since the company samples it according to its source, Casteren said. The chili is dried by the farmers before delivery to the plant. A Joint initiative between MESPT and Equator carried out 1100 sessions last year to train farmers on proper crop husbandry. Equator pays Sh 50 a kilo. About 5000 farmers growing the chili, in Coast province, sell the product in groups and are paid according to the amount they are able to supply. A group that is able to supply 100 kilos a week earns a bonus of Sh 5 while the one that supplies 200 kilos and above earns a bonus of Sh 10, Casteren said. “This is due to logistics and reduced cost of collecting a huge volume,” he said. Agricultural Business Development, which is now a programme under the MESPT started supporting farmers in Lamu through credit facilities for buying farm inputs. Through Lamu Teachers Sacco, a loan product for the chili project was developed and MESPT injected Sh 10 million to the Sacco, which was allocated to individual farmers ranging between Sh 5000- Sh 10,000. MESPT focus is to commercialize farming through the value chain and requirement to repay the loan has made the farmers to put extra efforts in the chili venture, MESPT officer in charge of the region Mr Solomon Nyale said, adding that approximately 1000 farmers benefited from the loan initiative. An irrigation Kitty is already running on trial to assist the farmers grow the crop all the year. The kitty, which irrigates the crop by drip has capacity to water an eighth of an acre using only 200 litres of water a day.
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Virgin oil processed by the Coast Coconut Farms in Ukunda. Over 70,000 coconuts are processed every week.
Value addition in coconut industry gives farmers a new lease of life Creation of processing capacity for coconut in Kenya has opened a new market for farmers who have been exporting the nut to Tanzania since cooperative movements in the sector collapsed 2 decades ago. There has been very little value addition in the country, done only through cottage industry, exposing farmers to exploitation by both the export dealers and middlemen targeting the local market. Agriculture Business Development (ABD), an initiative funded by Danida and now a programme under Micro Enterprise Support Programme Trust (MESPT - ABD) has supported value addition initiatives in Kwale and Kilifi, where farms have earned high farm gate prices due to availability of a sustainable market, which the initiative has supported. Norbert Onyango, a director at Kentaste, a plant that is processing coconut cream, coconut milk and desiccated coconut says that the company has contracted farmers in Kilifi, who are able to supply the plant 10,000 nuts every week. In South Coast, Coast Coconut Farm (CCF), which is processing virgin oil is sourcing 25,000 nuts from farmers in Kilifi and Kwale, who previously sold most of their nuts to the neighbouring Tanzania for as little as Sh 3 according to CCF general manager David Okello. MESPT helped the company to develop the product to the expected standards and also sought the market as well as serving as a linkage to farmers. “Our entry in the market has given farmers negotiating power since they cannot accept less than what the company is giving,� Okello said. Msambweni Coconut Cooperative Society and New Galana in
Kilifi are supplying 10,000 and 15,000 nuts every week to the company located a few kilometers from Ukunda every week. ABD has also supported the training for farmers to embrace proper crop husbandry. The chairman of Msambweni Coconut Cooperative Society Hussein Myega said that they hope to earn better returns when a proposal being worked out by MESPT to prepare charcoal from coconut waste materializes later in the year. The minimum price, ranging between Sh 8-12, is negotiated in the contract signed every year with CCF. The plant is able to process 70,000 nuts a week and there are plans to expand capacity to diversify products. According to Okello, the company will before the end of this year, IN FIGURES
Sh. 8 - 12 7.4M 80,000
amount farmers are earning per nut
the number of coconut trees in Coast Province amount of nuts processors are handling every week
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process coconut water and desiccated coconut, which is in high demand in cake and biscuit industries. Kentaste is able to process 1000 nuts every day. Before the entry of the company in the market, says Onyango, farmers earned as little as Sh 3 but the company is now paying up to Sh 10 per nut. The company started processing the nut in 2010 and ABD helped them to develop the marketing strategy and come up with branded packaging materials. An initial financial support of Sh 360,000 seed capital was also provided, enabling the company to start off. “We were the pioneer in processing coconut milk and cream in the country. The products have a very huge market that we cannot satisfy,” Onyango said, adding that the products are used to add flavour to food and is in high demand in Coast province where there is a tradition of using coconut in main foods. With the support of MESPT - ABD, Kentaste is working on global certification to be able to access European market and today has a sales turn over of Sh 1.3 million per month. Coconut milk and cream are sold through leading supermarkets in the country. “I have a background in food technology, which contributed significantly in the success of this project since having worked with the Kenya Coconut Development Authority to come up with standards in the industry and has helped me a lot,” Onyango said. The company has acquired a 9 acres piece of land in Mariakani to build a fully fledged company that will also process other coconut products. The Institutional Development and Management Services (IDM)
Msambweni Coconut Cooperative Society members prepare nuts for delivery to CCF. MESPT and the cooperative are working on a business plan to convert the waste into charcoal.
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managing partner Mr Gachanja Githende in a recent study on the industry said the value of the coconut sub sector at farm level is estimated at Sh 3.2 billion. About 60 percent of the value is obtained from the palm wine (Mnazi). Nuts generate 24 percent and Makuti generates 12 percent of the value. Brooms, according to the study provide 3 percent and coco wood was in 2009 providing 0.5 percent. Most of the palm wine (Mnazi) is sold locally with little packaging and local communities are preferring to drink it in its natural form. Investors have not ventured into marketing the wine in major markets such as Nairobi and Nakuru. CCF is exporting between 60-70 percent of the products while the rest is consumed locally. Penetrating the local market has remained a big challenge since people are not properly sensitized on the value of using coconut products, Okello said. A bigger manufacturer for coconut oil, a key ingredient in beauty products, is required to process the nuts produced in Kenya, Mwangi Hai, Manager in charge of Extension and Research Services at KCDA said last year. With the planned expansion of the two factories in the Coast region in the coming years, the idea of such a processor is not a far fetched one. There are over 7.4 million coconut trees in the region. KCDA recently launched a campaign to make farmers plant 1 million new trees for the next 7 years, enough to attract huge manufacturers’ of coconut products. Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) have already developed standards for 14 products.
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Animals in a feeding trough at MAWA Dairy farm Mtwapa, the processing plant is located. The Farmer uses preserved feed during dry seasons. Food technologists at the farm packaging milk and yoghurt for market.
Kilifi dairy farmers embrace for high profits amid processor’s capacity expansion What started as a hobby three years ago is today the biggest hope farmers in Kilifi County have to transform their lives by embracing dairy farming as a commercial venture. Hostile weather and insufficient processing capacity have all conspired to bring the woes the industry is facing, challenges that a successful farmer in the region will show his colleagues how to overcome. Against all odds, James Maina has proved that employing proper animal husbandry and keeping the appropriate breeds can turn the dairy sector into a profitable venture in the region just as is the case in highland areas of Central and Rift Valley provinces. MAWA Dairy, which was coined from the names of Maina and his wife, growth was driven by the high demand of milk in Mtwapa, where the processing plant is located. When he started dairy farming, the intention was to provide milk for his domestic use. When he could not consume all the milk, especially during peak seasons, he sold the excess to traders in Mtwapa, which is billed by United Nations as the fastest growing town in East and Centra Africa. With time, he increased the milk produced from the farm and challenges of marketing raw milk especially when there was glut led him to start packaging milk in fresh, mala and yoghurt, competing favourably with other leading procesors in the county. The herd in his farm has grown to 100 plus animals. Due to the success of his dairy project, Micro Enterprise Support Programme Trust (MESPT) according to Priscillah Gathiga the regional manager in charge of Eastern and Coast region, the farm will now be used to promote dairy farming in the region. “We have already linked two cooperatives, Manyesho and Zowerani to MAWA and there are plans to bring more cooperatives on board,” Gathiga said. Mawa has already established a sustainable market, selling milk to retailers and supermarkets in the region. The farm produces up to 2000 litres and the two cooperatives are able to supply 1000 litres during the peak season. The plant has capacity to process about 2000 litres of milk dairy but the capacity is expected to increase to 5,000 litres by August this year, Maina said. The Joint initiative by MESPT and MAWA is now planning to develop programmes to train farmers on proper animal husbandry
and upgrade the processing plant to increase the capacity. Plans are also underway to use the animal waste to produce biogas in a sustainable way, which will also significantly reduce the cost of energy. This is an initiative of the Natural Resources Management programme that is incorporated in MESPT activities The initiative also plans to purchase the coolers to allow farmers to bunch economic quantities. Manyesho Dairy Cooperative Society vice chairman Ms Sara Badika said that a sustainable market for their produce has renewed interest in dairy farming in Kilifi, where the milk is collected from 400 members. The region is estimated to have potential to produce more than 10,000 litres a day. “Before MAWA came, we used to sell our milk to middlemen in the region and we are today owed a lot of money by the processors who have since gone under,” she said. Although the cooperative society provides dividend and guaranteed market even in case of glut, buying milk at Sh 25 from farmers, some farmers are still selling part of the milk to middlemen. The joint initiative will step in to sensitize farmers on the need to group to have bargaining power of selling their products, Solomon Nyale, the Malindi MESPT coordinator said. MESPT has bought the cooperative collection containers, repaired their storage facilities and bought them a tuk tuk, which is used to collect milk from members. Kenneth Chura of Zewerani Dairy Cooperative, which has 48 registered members, says that guaranteed market will help the farmers access loans to promote their dairy farming and embrace modern techniques of farming.
IN FIGURES
1,000L 5,000L
amount of milk the two co-operatives supply during peak season planned milk processing capacity of MAWA plant by August
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Hired motor-bike delivering the nuts to the collection centre in Wundanyi. Wamatta is targeting to collect 70 tonnes this harvest season. A trained worker at Wamatta sorting out nuts at the collection centre in Wundanyi.
Global certification lifts Taita Macadamia profile A Certification by Fairtrade has lifted the global status of Taita macadamia nuts, which farmers are riding on to promote the crop that has over the years not been considered a viable commercial venture. The certification was initiated by Agriculture Business Development (ABD) in 2010, making Kenya macadamia the only one to acquire the coveted certificate that guarantees gateway to European market. Wakulima wa Macadamia Taita Taveta (Wamatta), which was organised by ABD close to a decade ago is now collecting more IN FIGURES
Sh. 75 70T 20 ac
amount of money a kilo is fetching farmers
the amount of nuts targeted this year
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the size of land under macadamia cultivation
than a half of the nuts produced in the region on behalf of TSA, a processing plant based in Nairobi. The association has 450 members in a region that has put under cultivation 200 acres with over 10,000 macadamia trees, Wamatta chairman Baldwin Mwangoji said The market linkage has significantly improved the farmers’ earnings and motivated them to increase production. Today, a kilo of nuts is fetching Sh 75 compared to between Sh 15-20 a few years ago when the market was not organised. The sustainability of the market has given the farmers in the region a good negotiating power according to Mwangoji. “We used to get market for our produce when the season was coming to an end, which is not the case today” Mwangoji said. The nuts grow in the highlands with little spraying and insects manifestation. The region produced about 100 tonnes the previous year but since significant number of farmers have not appreciated the essence of selling the produce as a group, Wamatta managed to collect over 35 tonnes. In 2009 the association collected 15 tonnes while this year, the target is to collect 70 tonnes. A census done in 2006 established that majority of trees are old and farmers are cutting trees and grafting them with scions from high yielding varieties, Mwangoji said. 560 trees were top worked last year and they will start producing the nuts again in 3 years time. The new varieties being introduced include Kiambu 3, Muran’ga 20, Embu 1 and Kirinyiga 6.
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Part of the machines ready for processing.
Malindi mango plant ready for the first harvest Mango farmers in Malindi are expecting high returns this harvest season following the opening of a new factory that is expected to start operations this year. The factory is a key milestone in efforts to do value addition, which started in 2009. Allan Chengo, Malindi Natural Juice Processors Ltd general manager say that the new plant will earn its owners, Malindi Mango Farmers Cooperative society better returns from the produce. In 2006, Agriculture Business Development (ABD), started an initiative to link the farmers, who were selling raw mangoes to the Milly Fruits but the new market failed to give desired results since Milly preferred to buy raw mangoes from farmers as opposed to the cooperative when there was a glut. In 2009, ABD helped the cooperative to conceptualize a business plan to carry out value addition. In 2010, ABD facilitated injection of Sh 10 million. The idea was to process the pulp with Milly as a key market target, which would have reduced the transport costs and earn farmers better returns. It would have also reduced the post harvest losses, which stands at over 40 percent of the total production. The processing lacked a key ingredient since the machines that were acquired did not aseptically package the product and the pulp did not fetch better prices. “Pasteurization and aseptic machine was required. Quotation was done and the machine was procured from Italy last year,� Chengo said, adding that the project was commissioned in February this year and has already run test trials. The Sh 75 million project will crush 50 tonnes of raw mangoes every day. The project to be operated by the Malindi Farmers Cooperative Society, with the capacity building support from the Micro Enterprise Support Programme Trust (MESPT) which has taken over ABD programmes will be operated built on Build Operate Transfer
(BOT). The farmers plan is to have the cooperative repay the loan with 50 percent of the revenue it will generate and MESPT will transfer it to the cooperative once the capacity to run it is established. Del Monte, an international fruit juice processor has already carried out preliminary audit on the plant. Once the processing commences this month, Chengo said, other audits will be carried out and once successful, the company will be contracted to supply pulp. Azam, a Tanzania based food company has also expressed interest to buy pulp from the company and preliminary audit has already been carried out. Due to the growing consciousness of the Kenya consumers, the fruit juice industry is estimated to have grown by 25 IN FIGURES
50T Sh. 75M 1.3M 40%
processing capacity of the new factory the value of the new processing plant
number of mango trees in the region post harvest loss
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A staff at the Mango processing plant explains one of the processes for pulp manufacture which is expected to start in May this year.
percent every year in the last four years. The machine is also able to process pineapples, passion fruits and it is only a small investment that is needed to purchase some equipment, Chengo said. “We felt a great need to construct the factory since farmers were losing huge volumes of raw mangoes due to lack of market,” Solomon Nyale, the project coordinator in Malindi region said. The pulp can be stored for a long period of time and will also reduce the cost of transport associated with selling raw mangoes, which sometimes go bad before they secure a market. The Coast region has been recording a loss of fruit of about 40 percent after harvest due to lack of a ready market, Chengo said. In Malindi, there are over 12,000 mango farmers with an estimated 120,000 trees lying on 1700 hectares of land, according to the results of a baseline survey on the crop carried out in 2009 by Institutional Development and Management Services (IDM), a research firm, on behalf of the ABD.
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“Although the cooperative has only 130 members compared to the 12,000 farmers in the region, the presence of the factory will serve as a good indicator that value addition can be done by farmers,” Chengo said. Since mango is a seasonal crop, an addition of equipment to the machines that were imported from Italy will create capacity for the plant to process passion, pineapples and water melon, Chengo said. The new plant has increased the Coast province processing capacity of Mango to 260 tonnes everyday. In addition to the two new factories, other major processors in the region include Allfruits EPZ limited in Mikindani, which process 100 tonnes of mango everyday for export to Europe and Milly Fruit famous for Picana brand that is able to crush about 70 tonnes of mangoes per day. The entire cost has a population of 1.3 million trees, according to the baseline survey estimated to be valued at Sh 260 million. However this value is expected to improve significantly following the ongoing value addition initiatives.
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Beatrice Nguru, Mwamuko Self Help Group chairlady in one of the processing sheds in Taita crushing the leaves. Apart from the crop richness in minerals, it has a strong medicinal value.
Moringa: Taita’s miracle crop They call it miracle tree due its usage as well as the extent to which it has transformed their lives. Only a few years after they were trained on economic value of Moringa Oleifera, which has grown previously as a wild plant for many years in Taita, it has become a source of livelihood to Mwamuko Self Help Group with its 46 members. The Micro Enterprise Support Programme Trust – Agriculture Business Development (MESPT - ABD) organised Mwamuko and trained member, instilling skills to process the plant and also helped them to develop business acumen to engage in Moringa farming as a commercial venture. With creation of 7 processing sheds, each producing 12 kilos of processed Moringa, the group members are able to educate their children, Beatrice Nguru, the chairman of Mwamuko said. “I am now able to pay the school fees for my children with ease since the crop is able to fetch better returns, at Sh 1000 a kilo,” Nguru said. Vitalis Wafula, Taita and Loitoktok coordinator said that ABD played a key role in helping the group to acquire Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) for its products. The organization also helped the farmers to come up with the product by packaging it for market and developing marketing materials.
Apart from medicinal value, Moringa is a rich source of vitamins that include Vitamin A, C, Calcium, Potassium and Protein in quantities higher than those found in other food stuffs. Two companies Eco Holding and Gerliz Ltd, both based in Nairobi buys the Moringa powder from the groups in Taita and use it as an ingredients for manufacturing other products. Although Moringa is yet to generate interest among the locals, there is renewed interest, Nguru said.
Finished Moringa podwer ready for market.
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Mwinyiamiri Bendera, a farmer in Kwale tending a nursery of improved variety of passion fruit seedlings. He will sell them to farmers in the region this planting season.
Passion Fruits thrives in Kwale despite obstacles An initiative started two years ago by the Agricultural Business Development (ABD) to promote production of passion fruits is now bearing fruits following the entry of Allfruit EPZ which has provided a reliable market for the produce. ABD, which is now a programme under the Micro Enterprises Support Programme (MESPT), in a joint initiative with the Frigoken that owns Allfruit have embarked on a project to commercialize yellow passion fruit in South Coast, where the crop was largely grown in the bush. Solomon Kaniaru, who is working with Allfruits in Kwale said that the initiative is currently supporting planting two new varieties that were developed by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). The programme has recruited over 2000 farmers and is targeting 8,000. “The idea was to make them shift from bush to pure stand farming,” Kaniaru said, adding that ABD helped in having certification of the seeds done. The initiative started with 43 farmers in 2011, who were supported to develop pure stands but the number has now increased to 320. Each farmer is given 200 seedlings to plant in a quarter an acre piece of land. Clarice Kionge, Mespt coordinator in South Coast says that close to Sh 6 million has already been loaned to farmers to help them
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develop pure stands that will increase production and also allow farmers to tend the crop. Each farmer is loaned Sh 20,000 through SMEP, with Sh 10,000 going to poles, Sh 6,000 to wires and the balance to other requirements. Mespt has also developed demonstration farms strategically located, where farmers are trained on how top embrace proper crop husbandry. Kionge said that 250 farmers have already benefited from this financial support. Passion fruit is a perennial crop that is harvested for five years if the field is properly catered for with a potential capacity to produce a tonne every week for the eight weeks harvest season, according to Mutua Nzau, one of the farmers running a demonstration farm in Shimba Hills. “The sustainable market has helped the farmers to bunch enough fruits and one can sell up to a tonne of produce every week from the quarter acre piece of land,” Mutua, who has been farming the crop since last year said. Passion fruit is an all season crop but due to the reliance on rain fed farming, production has only been limited to two harvest with the main eight weeks one starting in June of every year. Kionge says that MESPT is currently establishing collection centers and organizing farmers so that they can be able to produce the crop this harvest season. Last season, farmers sold about 500 tonnes to
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Mutua Nzau, one of the farmers managing demo farm in Shimba Hills, Kwale County.
Frigoken. One of the biggest challenge facing the passion fruit market, Kaniaru says, is presence of middlemen and other players who comes to buy the fruits when they are ready but do not have programmes to promote production. A significant number of the farmers are still growing the fruits in the bushes, and when they burn the field in preparation of planting, a huge proportion of the crop is lost. Kaniaru said that the initiative to organize the market has given the farmers good bargaining power since they are now able to sell their produce in Kilos as opposed to Kipeto, a 25 kg basket that fetched them between Sh 100-120. Allfruits bought the fruits in Kilos and up to Sh 18 per kilo was paid last season. Mespt has also embarked on the process of introducing improved varieties that have been developed by the KARI in Matuga. Individual farmers in strategic location in the region are developing nurseries, with the support of MESPT and Kari so that they can produce certified seeds that will be sold to other farmers. Kionge says that 15 nurseries have already been developed.
“I have planted 3000 seedlings of KPI4 and with the training I can be able to differentiate the various varieties of the passion fruits,� Mwinyiamiri Bendera, one of the farmers developing the nursery said. Allfruits, the processing plant in Kingorani, which was established two years ago has the capacity to handle 3,000 tonnes of fruits for export to European markets. This variety takes 9 to 10 months to get the first fruits, almost the same time as purple. However, the yield per hectare range from 30 to 40 tonnes per harvest compared to 15 for the purple variety, according to KARI estimates. A kilogram of either variety fetches a minimum of Sh18 to Sh20 but the yellow passion fruit farmers realise higher profits due to lower growing costs, in that the purple passion fruit requires spraying 6 times each fruit season, compared with three times a season for the yellow variety. According to KARI reports, the yellow passion fruit is resistant to Fusarium wilt, and tolerant to phytophthora root rot, nematodes, brown spot and woodiness virus.
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Mrs. Deborah Wakesho tending to her Sugar Snap crop, with some workers she employs.
Workers at Vegpro park house in Mombasa preparing the harvest for export.
Taita farmers advised to tap vegetable production For the last five years, farmers in Taita have enjoyed high returns from horticulture, thanks to global certification that has opened a huge market for their produce in Europe. Despite the rough terrain, which previously exposed them to middlemen who bought their vegetables at exploitative prices, the farmers have gone against all odds to position themselves at the global map. The initiative to grow horticulture was started by the Agriculture Business Development (ABD) in 2008 when it grouped farmers together and offered them training on proper farming techniques before linking them to Vegpro, a commodity company that is now sourcing French beans and peas from the region for its Europe export market. “Before we embarked on these new crops, we cultivated cabbages and Sukuma week, which did not fetch us any good returns due to lack of reliable markets,” Renson Kifumbu, a farmer in Taita said. ABD has helped in the certification of the farmers by the GlobalGap and Fairtrade, a key requirement for anyone seeking to sell food products to Europe. ABD also provided loans through Teachers Saccos to finance products that were tailor made horculture farming. “The loan has assisted us to buy farming equipment such as water pumps and pipes to enable us produce the crop throughout the
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year,” Kifumbu said, adding that Mbagitiki Self Help Group has now over 160 active members. Vitalis Wafula, MESPT Taita-Loitoktok coordinator said that the initiative in Taita was started from a scratch and the target is to produce 30 tonnes of produce every week compared to the current 12 tonnes. Atul Patel, Vegpro Coast manager said that the company has bought 1.25 million tonnes of the produce from the region earning farmers Sh 75 millions, since the commencement of the initiative. The company contracts farmers every year where the minimum farm gate prices of the harvest are agreed. This season, a minimum price of Sh 45 for a kilo for peas and Sh 75 for French beans was agreed. Farmers bunch the produce at a collection centre in Weruga, Wudanyi from where the company collects harvest three times a week, Atul said. “Our target is to get 30 tonnes of produce every week. We have not been able to satisfy our market,” Atul said. One of the challenges the initiative is facing was limitation of the available land for vegetables. Youth have not joined the programme due to lack of farming land. Last year, 149 farmers were vetted by GlobalGap and there are plans to vet another 300 farmers this year.
Natural Resource Management
St Joseph Shelter of Hope in Voi. The 30 beds capacity hospital has benefited from a Sh 500,000 support from MESPT through its Natural Resource Management programme. The 800 watts solar energy system runs everything from lighting, fans, computer in the Admissions/records office, a fridge in the pharmacy and laboratory equipment! The electricity bill for this unit is only the standing charge of 134 SH. The next phase will incorporate more equipment.
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Vision Tower (Formerly First Assurance Plaza) P.O. Box 187, 00606 Nairobi, Kenya Tel : +254 20 3746764/354, 3749942 Email : bservices@mespt.org