The annual University of Eldoret Agri-Business Trade Fair held last week provided a great opportunity for exhibitors and farmers to showcase and learn the emerging technologies in the sector.
Various technologies and innovations in the agriculture industry were presented during the three-day event.
This year’s theme was ‘towards food security and national growth through agricultural innovation and technology transfer’.
Some of the top innovations include:
Grain dryers
As the El-Nino beckons, grain farmers have been wondering what to do with their crops.
The government had earlier instructed them to harvest their maize and wheat to avoid losses when the rains start next month.
However, the Allied Agrimech Ltd may just have a solution. The firm showcased grain driers, which can reduce their grains’ moisture content within hours.
Currently, many grain farmers are still drying their cereal crops on the ground and it takes longer to attain the required moisture content of below 13 per cent.
Allied Agrimech director Joseph Kimotho said the Italian technology would revolutionise agriculture in the country.
According to Kimotho, tonnes of grain losses are experienced each year in the farms. This is caused by farmers harvesting their crops late after waiting for them to dry first.
Other losses are incurred during the traditional grain drying of spreading on the ground.
“If we employ this technology, these losses can be minimised. The machine reduces the moisture content from 20 to 13 per cent within two hours,”Kimotho explained, adding that the machine loads up to 90 tonnes and can either use petroleum or electricity.
“It is flexible and it comes in different sizes. Currently thousands of acres of grains in the country remain unharvested since it hasn’t attained the required maturity. Farmers can harvest and dry them using the technology,” Kimotho said.
Potato planting and harvesting technology
The potato planting and harvesting technology attracted many farmers and students. The potato machine comes in different types and sizes, combining four sets.
It includes rotar tiller which breaks the ground, rotavator that ploughs, hiller which makes ridges to allow the potato planter to plant on top of the ridges and a Grimme potato harvester, which was a big attraction to farmers.
The Grimme harvester is a technology from Scandinavian countries where potatoes are extracted and separated from the haulm.
It consists of one row of spiral segments with haulm roller and scrapper roller. During the harvesting, soil is sieved and the potatoes are transferred then spread well on the farm to allow easy collection.
Other bigger Grimme harvesters have a unit in which potatoes are extracted and poured at the same time into the storing unit.
According to the North Rift FMD East Africa sales representative, Albert Limo, the technology is godsend for a farmer with as low as one acre of land; it gives farmers more returns as it is designed for more yields.
“The planter plants a distance of 30cm and it yields about 30-40 tonnes per acre, which is a lot of money for a farmer as opposed to traditional methods of planting,” Limo said.
“The harvester extracts potatoes without cutting them hence good quality and easy harvesting,” he added.
Limo said the Nyandarua county government has already bought seven machines since it is planning to set up a crisps factory.
Fish hatchery
A fish hatchery was also featured in the show where production of fingerlings is done in recirculation aqua culture system.
The technology produces high quality and healthy fingerlings at the desired level. The Jambo Fish Tilapia and African Catfish innovation contains various compartments.
It has a hatching system specially designed to hatch large quantities of African catfish eggs and an incubation system with various jars each able to hatch up to 30,000 tilapia eggs. It also has a fry system where the fish stays in its first stage in the hatchery; a juvenile system, which is for the last stage of the fish in the hatchery; a brood stock system which maintains the optimal conditions for the brood stock; and the artemia system, where artemia hatches to provide feed for the fry.
The system is important because it nurtures fingerlings from quality brood stock in a disease-free controlled environment. It also offers the fry an opportunity to be brought up on quality starter feeds that gives them a solid foundation for the rest of their growth cycle.
Produce storage technology
The storage technology helps farmers to understand the need to maintain their produce quality between the harvest and market period.
The Netherlands technology is suitable for small-scale farmers with a storage capacity ranging from five to 20 tonnes.
It is the best storage solution for potatoes, onions, garlic and carrots. The system allows for the regulation of temperatures required to keep the produce fresh.
It can store them for a maximum of three months hence suitable for monitoring market prices.
Rice transplanter
The University of Eldoret showcased the rice transplanter, which enables the machine to float on top of water due to its buoyancy system as it transplants rice.
However, these technologies are very expensive and require farmers to form cooperatives in order to acquire them.
According Kimotho of Allied Agrimech, most of the technologies showcased at the exhibition were foreign.
“We would like to see more technological innovations from Kenyans since many here are imported from foreign countries,” he said.
He said innovations from local scientists are still missing and the researchers should come out and prove what they have been doing in the laboratories and workshops.
Principal Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Fred Sigor said innovations and technology is the only way to mechanise agriculture in the country.
“The technologies will help us attain mechanisation of agriculture and realise more benefits through using cheaper technology for better yields and value addition,” Sigor said.