W2B031K
<I> <h> Dairying </h>
<h> Silage-making is another sure way to beat drought </h>
Some encounters are quite intriguing. When one encounters a herd of shining, healthy milk animals during this drought period, one question immediately springs to mind: what does the owner feed the animals on?
So it was with my friend Owino. He had gone to a certain farm to attend to a sick animal where he noticed that though the pasture in the compound was dry and therefore of poor quality (obviously due to the present drought), the 5 milk animals he encountered were quite healthy judging from their shiny coats.
Mr Owino's curious mind was only satisfied after the farmer explained why his animals managed to remain healthy despite their continued production even as the drought persisted.
"I give them silage," volunteered the farmer. "But the whole story goes many years back."
The farmer then went on to narrate how he had come to have silage made in his farm seven years ago. To the farmer, the issue was not the need to provide for his stock then: the entire project was linked to prestige. He wanted to be the first one in his area to have made silage. At that time, he kept <ea/>zebus (local cattle) which grazed in the grass-fields. He was not bothered with their feeding because he could always sell them for meat just as they were.
Later, after buying 5 exotic cows for milk production, he found that he could not take the whole herd out to graze: The exotic animals were weaker than the indigenous ones and effects of the daily trekking usually showed on them when they returned in the evening from the field. He decided to keep the 5 cows at home, in a zero-grazing unit. Feeding them was not a problem until the drought set in. What was he going to do? The solution came to him: hadn't he preserved silage? The silage couldn't have come in more handy.
Like this farmer, others can also prepare silage for their herds but if only plenty of pasture, the necessary equipment and skill are available. Of these requirements, the one that will most likely not lack is the skill needed to prepare silage: the relevant agricultural officers can always be contacted to assist the farmer.
Silage-making, the preservation of green forage for use during periods of scarcity is a better alternative to hay production with respect to their different nutritional values. Moreover, in those areas where rainfall patterns present difficulties for harvesting pasture for hay at the optimum growth stage, silage remains the only other method of conserving pasture (if the forementioned conditions are met).
There is a wide range of raw materials that can be used. Maize and other fodder crops can be used as the mentioned farmer did. Crop wastes from vegetables and fruits can be used (here, pineapple waste is a very good example). Legumes and grasses also make two types of forage that are also used.
The technique to be employed in making silage will be determined by the quality of pasture available for ensiling as well the farm equipment. In essence, the technique to be used is what decides the type of silo to be constructed. From the various kinds of silos, the pit silo emerges as the cheapest because it is easily constructed. For large quantities of silage, the tower silo can be employed.
The bottom lining of the silo could be of a plastic sheet, concrete or sand.
Whatever the structure opted for ensiling, the same basic principles of making silage apply to all. The objective is to naturally preserve forage in the silo through the fermentation of sugars by bacteria to release a lactic acid preservative. This objective is fulfilled where consolidation or <-/compaction> of the forage material with sufficient sugars is done and air-tightness maintained in the silo by coverage of the ensiled material. Rapid filling of the forage into the silo guards against air being retained in the silo.
The silo, thus, should not merely be big enough to accommodate the forage, but should be both air-tight and water-tight.
For the clamp or trench silo, choose a sloppy ground which is easily drained.
The process of ensiling may be broken down into ten steps.
The first step is to cut the crop from the field and to transport it to the site for ensiling.
Next is to chop the forage to small pieces. The smaller the pieces, the better the silage quality. Chopping can be done manually or by use of a silage harvester or a chaff-cutter.
The chopped materials should be wilted for 48 hours prior to ensiling.
Gradual packing of the forage into the silo can then follow. Use water-filled drums if a tractor is inaccessible or unavailable. People can also compact the forage by dancing on it but this might prove tedious.
Fill the silo to one metre on the first day. On the second day, the temperature has to be checked before further consolidation progresses. For practical purposes, there is no need for a thermometer to take the silo temperature: feeling by the hand is enough. This should be done at various sites in the silo.
Heat of the normal human warmth suggests that the silo temperature is about the desired one.
Add water to control overheating. Note, however, that too much water may cause forage decay, resulting into undesirable flavours.
By the third or fourth day, filling the silo should be complete.
The filled-up silo should then be covered with a polythene sheet on which 15cm of straw, saw dust or grass has been placed. Add 15cm of soil on top of the grass to make the silo air-tight.
Lastly, dig a trench <-/roundthe> silo to keep surface water away. Properly ensiled, the silage retains its succulence and <-/nutritie> value. Indicators of good quality silage are: a greenish yellow colour, an acidic but pleasant aroma and a texture that is neither slimy nor greasy. For legumes, it is necessary to add feeds with lots of sugars, such as molasses to encourage fermentation.
When removing silage for feeding, open only a small area to avoid moulding. Discard any mouldy silage in the silo as it is poisonous to livestock. Any silage left after the animals have fed must be discarded.
Feeding milk cows on silage requires that a precaution be taken. The cows should be fed on silage after milking and not before. This is because silage taints milk. </I>
<I> <h> Your <ea/>Shamba </h>
<h> Advantages of mixed cropping </h>
The aggravating problem of land shortage has led to agricultural research focusing on mixed cropping systems such that farmers can grow a cash crop and a food crop on the same plot. In a field survey carried out by a pyrethrum researcher in Kisii District ten years ago, the researcher was <-/suprised> to find farmers already growing beans alongside pyrethrum.
The farmers were way ahead of the researchers.
Early this year there was a story about a farmer from Rongai Division in Nakuru who had, supposedly, bred superior lemons. His is also an example of the unofficial, informal or indigenous research carried out by farmers themselves. 
In pyrethrum farming, research on appropriate or suitable crops and the growing technique required to be used in a mixed field is necessitated by the diminishing land sizes. Currently, 80 per cent of the pyrethrum crop is grown by small-scale farmers in the high rainfall areas of the country. These farmers are also concerned with how they can grow food crops for, though desirous of participating in the commercial crop sector, their basic objective is survival.
Thus, whereas in the past pyrethrum was grown singly, continuing land fragmentation precipitated by an increasing population has led to the emergence of the mixed cropping.
"Maybe farmers have an instinct that tells them to try new methods of farming," says one researcher. "A farmer with a small piece of land will ask himself: "What will happen if I grow another crop in the space between the lines of pyrethrum? Let me grow and see. The result will be some form of research, though conducted haphazardly."
Researchers have conducted investigations on the effects of intercropping pyrethrum with beans, mainly the Rose Cocoa variety. They have also investigated on the effect of growing maize alongside pyrethrum.
Early experiments with maize have indicated that, "it is possible to intercrop pyrethrum with maize provided maize is spaced wide enough to provide minimal shade on pyrethrum plants." It was observed that "flower production increased with decreasing densities of maize in intercropped plots". Intercropping gave better returns than pure stands, the maize cobs being bigger.
Research being carried out will finally determine the best technique of planting pyrethrum with maize such that they can grow harmoniously on the same plot with the maize affecting the flowers as little as possible.
Mixed cropping, a widespread technique in many farming areas (for example the familiar maize-beans combination) has many advantages over pure crop stands.
* Labour used, for example in weeding, is reduced as weeding once covers both crops.
* Legumes (nitrogen-fixing plants) fertilise the non-leguminous crops.
* Crops grown among others are less exposed to pest and disease attacks.
* Varying root systems mean that soil nutrients will be withdrawn  from varying depths.
The observations on pyrethrum farming in Kisii, one of the most populated districts in the country, clearly shows that though the validity and usefulness of some farmer practices may be questioned it is not always that the farmer's knowledge and experience is despised or ignored.
For many years, emphasis in agricultural research has been on pure crop stands but the recent shift towards mixed cropping systems could not have come at a more better time. The relevance of this approach cannot be disputed considering the changing socio-economic and demographic trends that define mixed cropping as the most appropriate farming technique for the small-scale farmers. It would be unsound to grow only crops for export at the expense of food crops. Both kinds of crops are essential. If they can both be grown without a deficit in the production of one arising, then the better.
Although single crop plots, plantations or monoculture farming systems have been very common in the past, many farmers have been practising mixed cropping over the years. And, in the case such as that cited at the beginning of this article, what remains to be done is to perfect these systems such that high yields can be obtained.
Farming practices originating from the farmer's own experimentation are not to be condemned wholesale. Sometimes the innovations resulting from the farmer's informal research are more suitable and appropriate to his particular situation may be more than the recommendations that researchers may give.
It must be accepted that farmers are experts in their own right, curious and gifted with great powers of observation and evaluation, that eventually lead to individual experimentation.
However, the resultant innovations may lack refinement and definite specifications. This is because a farmer will engage only in experiments that entail minimum risks considering the fact that he is at the mercy of <-/extragenous> factors that conspire to make farming a precarious activity, full of uncertainties. A farmer does not forget his basic objective  that of ensuring that his family survives from one season to the next. His farming rewards should at least be able to feed his family and offset the debts incurred during the farming exercise.
The innovative farmer may not be able to explain his research process but the results will be <-_three><+_there> to be seen.
However, as in the case of pyrethrum grown with beans, the researcher could not be told the bean yield because the farmers did not keep records. The beans had been eaten from the <ea/>shambas even before harvest period.
As such, it can be seen that an innovative farmer cannot compete with the researcher in the sophistication that endows formal research with precision, accuracy and proof. Apart from failure to do any documentation or recording of his results the farmer is constrained by lack of adequate resources and advanced skill that go into making any research a complete success. 
</I>
W2B032K
<I> <h> Dairying </h>
<h> This is how to make hay while the sun shines </h>
In the last article, I highlighted the strategies available for dealing with the problem of feed scarcity in the dry season. This week, we shall dwell on hay making, one of the methods of conserving excess pasture.
Hay making as a technology for conserving forage is the simplest of the pasture conservation methods. Through use of very few simple tools and little skill to make hay, the farmer beats the adverse effects of <-/seasonality> of rainfall which dictates pasture growth, quantity and quality and subsequently, animal nutrition, health and production. With as few tools as a hand-mower, a sickle or a <ea/>panga, it is possible to make hay.
Hay is forage whose moisture content has been brought down to between 15 and 20 per cent.
The more common form of hay and which assures animals of more nutrients and which suffers less quantitative losses is baled hay. However, the other forms  standing and loose hay - have special application to small-scale dairy farms where farmers are constrained by either lack of tools, lack of labour, lack of storage facilities or all of these.
Standing hay requires no implements. Also referred to as deferred grazing, conserving hay in this form represents an advanced form of rotational grazing. In this system, the procedure is to graze those pastures which get dry first and deferring (leaving them ungrazed until when necessary) those which remain green longest.
Usually, in a single plot of pasture, some parts are fenced off upon peak pasture production.
The hay will be of little nutritive value to animals unless the farmer grows drought-tolerant pasture plants specifically for this purpose. This is because standing hay with little moisture following continued growth lacks in most nutrients, is less palatable and therefore animals will consume little.
Nonetheless, standing hay, though of poor quality, offers animals nutrients required for maintenance of their body condition because drought can lead to a 30 per cent loss <-/ofweight> gained during the raining season. In this case, if water is given in unlimited volumes, the hay availed in sufficient quantities and <-/supplimentation> with concentrates (of high protein and energy value) done, milk production is not drastically affected. Animals will somehow have met their dietary requirements.
Economical or efficient utilisation of this hay requires that water points be distributed evenly in the grazing plot to ensure uniform grazing.
Baled hay, with its demand for a number of machines, is only possible in large-scale farms which can afford the cost of the necessary <-_equipments><+_equipment>.
<-/Losse> hay, our main concern in this article, involves the procedure of cutting forage and passing it through a simple treatment in the process of air-drying.
The cutting of forage should be done near ground level as possible and the harvesting done when the pasture is at the right stage. The right cutting stage is during early flowering when maximum pasture moisture content is 60 per cent to 75 per cent. A <-/highermoisture> content associated with young plants will prolong the drying period. A lower moisture content, which is undesirable, is found in mature pasture which lacks enough of the main nutrients. Cut after sunrise, when there is no dew.
During drying, frequent turning of the cut pasture in the sunshine facilitates faster drying. Drying (or curing) for two to seven days is enough, at duration depending on the weather.
Excessive moisture in the high rainfall areas is a problem. Storage of hay in such areas demands that all the critical storage requirements be met. Hay stored in a damp condition or with a high moisture content will turn <-/moldy>, less nutritive, less digestible and less palatable.
Thus, after sufficient drying, the next step is to store the hay in a roofed, non-leaking structure with long eaves, preferably with a cemented or slated floor. These requirements are a prerequisite to keeping the hay at high quantity. Mouldy or slimy hay is unacceptable to animals.
Generally, good quality hay is obtained from good quality crops harvested at the right stage, properly dried and unadulterated with foreign matters such as weeds and soils.
The use of legumes or a mixture of grasses and legumes to make hay enhances the final feed value of the hay availed to animals. Legumes are very popular with animals at all stages. They have higher digestibility than grass since they (legumes) are richer in nitrogen, a vital component in fibre digestion. Nitrogen also encourages higher feed intakes.
To enhance the overall usefulness of hay (of whichever form), it is best to intercrop grasses with legumes such as lucerne in the pasture field meant for hay making alone. This is in spite of the fact that a mixed pasture of this kind calls for intensive management, during the establishment period. Alternatively, grass and legumes can be grown separately but both cut for hay making. </I>
<I> <h> Dairying </h>
<h> Guard your stock against mosquitoes </h>
Mosquitoes have never been, and will never, be our friends until they change their feeding habits.
They prey on livestock the same way they prey on man, causing serious production losses.
Only a week ago, they were responsible for an outbreak of the Lumpy skin disease in Bahari Division, Kilifi District.
Mosquitoes are aptly described by the meaning of the proverbial <ea_>asante ya punda ni mateke<ea/> (an ingrate's appreciation of services rendered or generosity given is to hurt you instead). These blood-sucking parasites thank their hosts by transmitting disease to them. The insects' natural ability to do this is responsible for the Lumpy skin disease.
This viral disease transmitted mainly by mosquitoes affects cattle only. LSD does not spare any breed of cattle. Neither does it prefer adult cows to calves or the other way round; it affects all ages.
An understanding of the disease is vital to making efforts of control and prevention a success.
This understanding is especially important because the other notable mode of transmission of the disease is the direct contact between sick animals and healthy ones. Mosquitoes will have introduced the disease to a healthy animal in a herd and this animal, untreated until the disease reaches its terminal stage, will be the source of infection to other cows.
It is due to the rate of spread that, since it first occurred in the country over 30 years ago, the disease remains a major concern in many districts in the country. This explains why the disease features in many vaccination campaigns in the country.
The disease is a serious problem during periods of heavy rains when, generally, mosquitoes breed rapidly.
Low, swampy areas are a favourite habitat for mosquitoes and cows in these areas are at a high risk of becoming infected.
The rate of spread is high in calves but lower in adult cows. Likewise, 75 per cent of the calves infected will - if not treated  die but only a few cows will suffer this fate.
Even if only a few cows are likely to die from the disease, a farmer should not relax his disease-control programme. LSD is of great economic importance to the dairy farmer and, therefore, not a scourge to be taken lightly. Dairy cows being milked will reduce their production when infected by the disease, irrespective of the feeding they are getting. Any time there are outbreaks of the disease, milk production in the affected area definitely goes down.
LSD, commonest of the skin diseases of livestock, is characterised by the formation of nodules all over the skin. The affected animals also suffer oedema (abnormal accumulation) of fluid in pockets or spaces of body tissues). The regions showing oedema are the brisket and lower parts of the limbs.
The disease actually starts with the normal indicator disease symptoms of lack of appetite and fever. Nasal discharges and lacrimation (flow of secretions from the eyes) will be seen and lymph nodes will swell.
It is after these initial symptoms that there occurs a sudden appearance of nodules on the skin.
The nodules, unattended and untreated, will rupture to form ulcers.
Once the ulcers have appeared, the cow is in danger of contracting other diseases, a condition referred to as Secondary Bacterial Infection.
In actual fact, the primary LSD infection will have ploughed the skin, paving the way for other micro-organisms to plant or bury themselves inside. Usually, this phenomenon occurs because some bacteria find the wounds ideal for entry and survival.
The only way to save the animal in this case - because the new infection could be more dangerous - is to report the disease to livestock authorities.
Livestock authorities will impose a quarantine as a measure of controlling the spread of the disease. By the same provision, carcasses of all animals dying from the disease must be buried in a pit or burnt completely.
A veterinary officer will treat a sick animal to protect it from secondary bacterial infection.
Prevention of the disease is centred on the elimination or destruction of mosquitoes. Drainage of swamps and marshy areas and putting oil on water in pools discoveries the breeding habits of mosquitoes.
However, routine vaccination of cattle gives animals resistance to the disease if the immunity does not break down due to stress or improper feeding. No cow should be denied vaccination in this case. </I>
<I> <h> Dairying </h>
<h> The importance of a crush </h>
For assured efficiency in production, a number of farm buildings or structures are necessary to the dairy enterprise - the milking shed, calf pen, feed store fences. But there is one structure that some farmers have not put up - the crush.
A crush is any contrived structure meant for the restraining of an animal's movement for easy handling whenever such a need arises.
Most farms have crushes. One would take it that all farmers have a crush because hardly does one come across a farm without. So when one farm proves an exception to this rule, then we expect that the farmer has some problem.
As to the necessity for a crush, here is a certain farmer's experience to support this need.
The farmer had come to report that his calf was sick.
Having confirmed from two chief symptoms - difficult breathing and abnormally enlarged superficial lymph glands - that the calf was suffering from East Coast Fever, I asked him to put the calf in a crush so that I could give the animal an injection.
He looked at me curiously and asked what I meant by "crush". When I had explained the meaning of the word, he threw his head back and laughed. A crush? what for? I will hold this calf with my bare hands and it won't move! I was a wrestler in my youth, you know."
He cooed to the calf and held it firmly. But what he had not anticipated happened. The injection needle proved strong and the calf jumped <-/wildy>, falling on top of the stunned old man. The calf narrowly missed stepping on his stomach. I was therefore not astonished when the old man stood up and asked "How does one construct a crush?"
In another instance, a farmer called me to treat her cow whose one teat was producing bloody milk, an <-/abvious> symptom of mastitis. This farmer, like the other one, had no crush but she said that her animal was quite gentle and that she milked it without first tying it.
True to the farmer's word, the cow did not resist being injected. But only the owner could touch its udder without any fuss. So she emptied the antibiotic infusion into the teat.
Other than for the purpose of restraining animals to give them treatment, a crush can be put into many other uses.
For small-scale farmers with one or two milk animals, the crush can be roofed to double up as a milking shed instead of tying the animal to a tree when milking.
When de-worming or drenching to control internal parasites - worms - handling <-/f> adult cattle calls for a crush.
If the farmer is to use Artificial Insemination (AI) instead of a bull, then he will need a crush.
</I>
W2B033K
<I> <h> Your <ea/>Shamba </h>
<h>Animals can replace tractors effectively </h>
Last month the Minister for Agriculture revealed that there was a shortage of tractors in the country and that the <-/Goverment> was working out a programme to increase the number of tractors in the country or provide credit facilities to enable farmers to buy the tractors.
This shortage holds significant implications to the farming community. It simply means that not all farmers who require the use of a tractor get access to this facility when they require it most. They miss the benefits of early land preparation.
Early land preparation, the basic objective of the Tractor Hire Service, leads to timely planting - when the rains have just begun - and subsequently high crop yields. Late planting caused by late seedbed preparation is associated with low yields and crop failure.
Further, these farmers miss the benefit of increased land productivity (when they employ other means for ploughing) that results from the deep ploughing by tractors which buries weeds and exposes crop pests in the soil to scorching by the sun.
The hoe, the usual agricultural implement in small-scale farms - which contribute, the largest share of the country's agricultural produce - is considered a primitive tool which restricts the expansion of acreage in the medium and large-scale farms. The tractor, at the other extreme of farm mechanisation, represents advanced technology and modernity and is a tool loved - and required too - by all farms. But some factors dictate that not all farmers will get to use this tool.
One farmer observes that: "The tractor is mainly in use from December to February for purposes of opening up the land for planting. For the rest of the year its use is minimal. But the <-/versatitle> tractor is not useful only in seedbed preparation, it is <-/unsable> in weeding, harvesting and transportation of the harvested crop.
In some areas, reduction in the size of the farm unit renders the use of a comparatively big tractor economically <-/unviable>. It becomes costly to buy or use a tractor in such farms.
In other farms, the need for a tractor may not arise for, using his simple <ea/>jembe, the farmer will till his land in readiness for planting as soon as the rains fall. If such a farmer were to use a tractor, where would he take the surplus household labour since his family is under-employed anyway, having more time to spare, the work being too little to keep them occupied all day?
Then there is the bias that tractor owners - the contractors - have against the small-scale farmers, preferring to deal with large-scale farmers instead.
There is also the difficulty of mechanising plots with perennial crops like coffee unlike the annual crops.
In farms of mixed <-/croping>, the use of tractors becomes difficult as different crops may require different kinds of operations (except for ploughing, prior to planting).
The use of tractors is greatly hampered by the spare-parts' problem. Many tractors lie, grounded or broken-down in farms in the country for lack of one spare-part or the other, or for lack of good maintenance.
Increased mechanisation in agriculture would serve well in increasing the production of crops that we are already insufficient in. For example, wheat-growing in Rift Valley would be inconceivable without the use of machines. Mechanisation is also desirable in enhancing the growing of crops for local use and possibly for export in the vast productive lands that have been put under irrigation in the drier parts of the country, for example the Bura Irrigation Scheme of cotton-growing.
These are the areas seriously in need of sustained and extensive mechanisation to bring about assured and increased productivity. These are areas where tractor shortage would be seriously felt.
The issue of tractor shortage begs the question: What is the appropriate technology for Kenya (keeping in mind that many farms are small in size)? The appropriate technology would be the one that guarantees profitability when used, being low-cost, is easily available, easily applied and can be adopted widely. Is the use of animal power such a technology?
Due to the shortage of the small and medium tractors that are usually in great demand, animal power should be seriously considered in agricultural mechanisation.
Animal mechanisation is the intermediate technology, coming between the hoe and the tractor in use and benefit.
On application, it is generally argued that the mechanical skills required for use or maintenance of a tractor are equal or greater than those required for animal-drawn implements.
Animals - the ox and the donkey - can be kept by the individual farmer and used as needed.
A number of reasons favour the use of these animals: 
- the cost of buying and maintaining the animals is minimal 
- ox-drawn implements are easier to produce locally.
This calls for the popularisation of ox-cultivation particularly in areas where large herds of cattle are kept. The hoe could be replaced by use of oxen and donkeys in various farm operations, animal power also being a substitute for tractors.
However, a number of obstacles need to be overcome in promoting the use of animal mechanisation: 
The cultural aversion to the use of animals for work in some communities.
Lack of trained manpower in the use of these animals.
Lack of well-developed pasture-land to sustain the animals, mostly in the drier parts of the country.
Even while animals can be used to supplement tractors, there is need for development of small, hand-driven machines for the small farms as the trend in farm-size indicates that many small farms continue to replace large farms owing to fragmentation. </I>
<I> <h> Your <ea/>Shamba </h>
<h> Are pig farmers getting a raw deal? </h>
Most feeds sold in shops are of poor quality
Mention concentrate and, manufactured livestock feeds, and livestock farmers will be keen to listen. The most attentive ones are likely to be the pig and poultry farmers.
In commercial pig rearing, feed accounts for 80 per cent of the producer's costs and has profound influence on the quality and conformation of the finished carcass. Thus, feeding has double significance for the producer, bearing substantially both on costs and receipts.
The pig farmer is particularly concerned about concentrates, these being the chief source of pig feed. Because of their digestive system, pigs are not able to use much roughage unlike ruminants like cattle, sheep and goats.
It then follows that the availability, price and quality of feeds is the major factor in deciding the general performance of the pig industry.
For some time now, the quality of feeds has been and continues to be an issue of discussion among farmers in the pig-keeping community. Are all the feeds available in the market, of the desired standard nutritional value? they wonder. Do these feeds meet the approved nutritive requirements to enable pigs to grow fast at all stages to reach market disposal weight within the shortest period possible as to cut down on total production costs?
The issue is: why does the quality of feeds seem to vary?
One farmer says at one time he was astonished to get pig fees with much fibre that were it not for the label, she would have taken the feed for a concentrate meant for cattle.
Many farmers contend that from their observations, a new feed milling will always offer very good quality feed at first. "But when they have been assured of a number of customers, these millers slowly lower the quality of the feed."
These farmers suspect that nutrients essential for promoting pig growth may be lacking in some feeds or if incorporated, then not in the required amounts.
Generally, the whole argument boils down to one thing: that variations in the quality of feeds are responsible in some cases for pigs taking too long to reach the desired market weight hence reducing the farmer's profit.
One animal nutritionist specialised in pig feeding, however, disagrees with this argument. He says: "The desirable commercial qualities of a first-class porker or baconer are not natural features but are only obtained by scientifically-controlled feeding and selective breeding. While breeding may be correct, the valuable features of the individual animal may easily be lost if feeding is on the wrong lines."
He goes on to give the example of a pig farmer feeding fatteners entirely on sow and weaner meal, a feed prepared specifically for growing pigs. Will these pigs be ready for marketing within the required time if they are fed this way?
He also talks of farmers who will feed their pigs on concentrates only <-/upto> the third month after birth and then feed the pigs entirely on swill (kitchen food wastes) for finishing.
"Kitchen waste could be good if the feed waste is balanced in energy and proteins. But this is usually not the case: almost always the main nutrient obtainable from swill is carbohydrate. Swill gives variable and unknown amounts of nutrients depending on its composition. Again, for safety, this should be boiled, a thing which some farmers never do.
"The feeding system all depends on the kind of growth the producer wants to achieve. The kind of growth aimed at will be reflected in the feeding system used."
He further argues that other things must be considered before it is concluded that it is the feed that has led to poor pig performance.
He says: "Whereas it cannot be over-stressed that at the beginning of its life, the young pig should be fed with an adequate supply of sow's milk and then introduced to concentrates, feeding must be right at the different stages of growth.
"In addition to this, all pigs need to be housed in a draught-free, dry, well-drained piggery; their health kept good by regular de-worming, treatment for diseases and external parasites. If these conditions are met and the pigs in question of known, desirable genetic qualities, then the farmer can point at feed as the cause of the slow growth."
But Kariuki, a farm manager in an agricultural institution maintains that there is a feed quality problem. He has at times experience problems with feeds. He <-/knowns> the problem exists because as a trained agriculturalist, he says he keeps pigs with the genetic potential to achieve fast growth. He deals adequately with aspects of disease prevention and treatment and also houses his pigs in a comfortable piggery constructed to recommendations.
As one farmer says, it is through a long, costly experience that a pig farmer (or any livestock farmer for that matter) is able to realise any defects in the concentrates he/she uses. The experience is long and costly because farmers do not have the facilities or skill with which to analyse any feed they purchase for their stock.
If any problem in feeds is to show up, then it is only after the farmer has reared the animals over a long period of time. It is the performance that will finally tell the other aspects of production being considered in their right perspective.
In the bid to get the best feeds, farmers will buy from one feed company for some time and when they notice unsatisfactory performance in their pigs or when the supplying miller <-_fail><+_fails> to deliver feeds, then farmers will switch to a different feed manufacturer.
The overall result is some kind of experimentation, a farmer moving from one miller to another trying to establish a source of the better quality feeds.
The issue of whether this problem of varying feed quality really exists and the degree of its acuteness need to be resolved by the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KBS).
One farmer suggests that the KBS conduct random checks on all livestock feeds on farms and in shops of distributing agents rather than go to the production factories.
In case any inadequacy shows, then the root cause can be established and remedial measures taken.
The country has a variety of the base raw materials for the energy and protein components of pig feeds. Where does the problem lie and what can be done to rectify the situation? </I>
W2B034K
<I> <h> Towards reducing pesticides in food </h>
Advances in agricultural sciences are improving pest control technologies and reducing the potential for pesticides residues in food.
But not only are scientists taking the challenges of developing safer and more effective chemicals, but they are also looking for ways of controlling pests using both natural and man-made tools. This has led to a growing number of farmers around the world combining chemicals and biological controls to stop crop-damaging pests.
As various laboratories and their scientists are getting closer to transferring genes into crops that will allow them to tolerate pest attacks, they have improved crop quality, and enabled farmers to kill weeds with herbicides that were formally harmful to the crop.
Though in some countries, the drive for new technology is being accelerated by <-/legislations> which dictate reduced pesticide applications, it is often the desire for more economical and safer pest control technologies that encourages development of new technologies.
Nowhere else is this more evident than in countries like Italy, where climate ranges from warm Mediterranean in the south to mountain climate in the north forcing farmers to modify pest control programmes according to their specific growing conditions.
On average, it has been identified that a crop has about 25 to 30 different pest species, along with several animal and plant parasites. Experiences in Italy illustrate knowledge of pest growth habits, predators and growing conditions as key to the efficient use or reduction of pesticide application.
Pest control technology, commonly referred to in Italy as "Integrated Pest Management"(IPM), relies on several basic principles among them detailed knowledge of the pests life cycle, local climate information and monitoring of pest development and populations with judicious use of pesticide applications where necessary. Thus unlike conventional pest control methods, users of IPM often must readjust spray schedules to accommodate beneficial insects.
In central Europe, farmers are using a new method that goes beyond the Italian IPM. This method is called "Integrated Crop Protection" (ICP) and has several guiding principles: Matching crop to local growing conditions, regular use of crop rotation all year round, use of pest and disease-resistant crop varieties, accurate matching of fertilizer inputs to crop requirements, control of weeds through cultivation and, where possible, use of biological controls.
Germany, for example, has taken the lead in ICP by forming an organisation whose goal is to assist farmers in studying and implementing these production practices. The organisation, called the "European Organisation for Crop Protection and Communication" works to promote the use of LCP.
This group comprising agro-chemical companies from France, Denmark, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom is organising a network of demonstration farms around the European continent to show LCP techniques.
In other countries, researchers and farmers have developed general practices based on ecological and economically-sound procedures aimed at reducing agrochemical inputs while still maintaining high crop yields and quality.
Farmers in these countries only use chemicals that are safe for the environment and those that allow natural predator build-up. The farmers also only keep and use chemicals or fungicides that are environmentally safe.
While many farmers in the United States of America (USA) have what they call "Low input sustainable agriculture" LISA which provides them with new crop protection technologies among them strategies such as crop diversification in addition to LPM techniques such as rotation and biological controls.
With (LISA), farming in USA is seen as a system where data on soil, fertility, pests and inputs are integrated, such like (LCP) in Europe. Researchers who are refining LISA <-/practises> in America say the technology takes a systematic approach to farming rather than single problem solving.
The most exciting advances in pest control in the coming decades will no doubt be made by genetically altered microbes and although it is still several years before farmers have true biotech pest control production, many are already out of the laboratory and into small greenhouse and field plot tests.
Promising, work is coming from the genetic modification of the bacteria whose common form has been used to control <-_insect><+_insects> for several years. One company, for example, in USA has already accomplished the testing of a corn variety that contains the gene within its vascular tissues.
Much of the efforts in genetic engineering is focused on developing crops resistant to environmentally-safe herbicides, which are applied after the weeds emerge. These enable farmers to use fewer soil-applied herbicides and direct application is only done to weed-infested fields.
More difficult but equally promising is genetically engineering plants to be disease resistant. Most of soil work is done on vegetables and crops through field trials are planned all over.
Research in biotechnology and integrated crop protection shows great promise of enabling farmers to continue producing food for the growing world population.
At the same time, the research is aimed at enabling farmers produce tremendous yields while at the same time protecting the environment and ensuring safe, high-quality food supply.
To ensure food is safe, for example, from contamination by pesticides residues, several international organisations and national governments have several monitoring programmes in place.
In Kenya the Pest Control Association of Kenya (PCAK), the National Agricultural Laboratories (NAL) and the Pest Control Products Board (PCPB) ensures food and water is not contaminated by pesticides.
Internationally, organisations like World Health Organisation (WHO), International Group of Nations Association of Agrochemicals (GIFAP), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), convene meetings to examine pesticides residues.
The meetings study and review the data and propose and recommend the maximum residue limit and acceptable daily intake levels both at the local and international levels. These <-_combine><+_combined> efforts of the groups have resulted in the accumulation of information on pesticide residue information that cannot be matched on a national level.
Today, many countries monitor pesticide residues in fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat products. Perhaps the single most misunderstood concept in the food safety controversy is what dosage is poisonous.
Mr Rob Combes, leader of Kenyan-based "Safe Use Project", says the new measurement technology has over the years given scientists the ability to detect smaller and smaller amounts of toxic substances in our food and water.
He notes that in the early 1950s, trace amounts of chemicals, both man-made and natural could be detected at one part per million, any level below that being considered zero or not present. Says he: "We are working to find even smaller amounts, one part per quadrillion."
While these achievements are commendable, members of the public have not been sufficiently educated on what these small numbers of residues <-_means><+_mean>. According to Mr Clive Mutiso, chairman of the PCAK of Kenya, individuals and consumers only cry foul about pesticides, without realising that many factors determine whether or not a substance in the food is hazardous.
He, however, notes that communication on some scientific information to the general public is not an easy task, adding that it can only be accomplished if the information is presented in layman's terms and illustrated in familiar context.
Several countries, Kenya included, are taking serious approaches to setting pesticide tolerance levels in both drinking water and food. The main goal is to set these standards far below the known health hazards levels. On their part, agrochemical manufacturers, are developing products with reduced potential for reaching food and water supplies.
At the international level, the WHO has established principles for establishing safe drinking water and guideline levels for pesticides and other organics. The oranisation <-/encouranges> agro-chemical companies to search for new compounds that break down quickly after application and are not readily mobile in the soil.
As part of the new products development, Mr Combes says the manufacturer thoroughly assesses pesticides' behaviour in the environment and that similar appraisal is made of existing agro-chemicals.
These products, he says, are examined under laboratory and field conditions and evaluated in field trials adding that should a product fail any of these tests it is dropped from further development. </I><I> <h> Role of pesticides in food production </h>
The importance of the agro-chemical industry in Kenya lies in the fact that agriculture is economy's mainstay. With over 80 per cent of Kenya's land being low and medium potential, agricultural activities are mainly concentrated on the remaining 20 per cent of the land. At the same time over 80 per cent of the population directly depends on agriculture for subsistence.
It is projected that there will be 35 million people in the country by the year 2000. It is, therefore, the Government's policy to expand food production to cater for the fast increasing population.
The Ministry of Agriculture has formulated a number of strategies to increase yields per hectare and reduce crop losses.
Meeting the growing demand for food is a great challenge to Kenyans as our farmers work to increase food supply. To expand agricultural production and increase exports the farmers must use the best seeds, fertilisers and crop protection facilities available today.
Pesticides are very important in this process because, about 20 per cent of Kenyan crop is lost either in the field or in the store due to pest damage.
Take cotton or coffee, for example. A farmer must maintain regular sprays to control pest damage. If this is not done, yields will be affected, farmers are aware of this and what they need to know most are what pesticides can be used and when to use them in order to maximise results - and improve yields - the same with livestock.
The use of pesticides has become an important feature and efforts have been made towards educating farmers on the effective use of the same under the current three years' "Kenya safe use project" sponsored by the Brussel based International Group of Nations Associations of Agro-chemical Manufacturers (GIFAP).
In recognition of the importance of pesticides to the economy, an increasing amount of the resources has been allocated for the importation of pesticides. The country spends Sh700 million on such imports the bulk of which are used locally for pest and disease control, with about 5 per cent being <-_re-export><+_re-exported> to the neighbouring countries in the spirit of regional co-operation in pest and disease control.
Pesticides have played an important role in the improvement of human welfare all over the world. This is equally true in Kenya where agriculture is mainstay of the economy. The question as to why we need pesticides in this country was put to Mr Clive Mutiso, the chairman of Pesticide Chemicals Association of Kenya (PCAK) in an interview with this writer.
Mr Mutiso observed that crop protection products must be biologically active to do their job properly and so they do carry an element of risk but a great deal of time and money, he added, is invested in research and listing the highest possible safety standards to man and the environment.
He commended PCAK for the key role it is playing in the development of agrochemical industry in the country. About 20 per cent of all pesticides used in the country are formulated locally while the balance is imported already formulated. With regard to regulation and better management of this industry the Pest Control Products Act of 1982 has a long way in facilitating the consolidation of the industry. A number of Government organisations closely monitor the formulation and quality of agrochemicals in the country.
With the help of PCAK the National Agricultural Laboratories (NAL) and Pest Control Products Board (PCPB) usually receive and analyse samples of the products formulated. Currently the pesticides industry itself is the most potent force for the safe and correct use of the products and this is perhaps more evident in a developing country such as Kenya than elsewhere. The majority of pesticides imported in the country originate from the major companies in Europe and the United States.
The Government has enacted effective legislation to regulate the pesticides industry at all levels. The implementation of the act according to Mr Bob Combes "Kenya safe use project" leader, is still proceeding with the industry endeavouring to co-operate with the Government to formulate practical solution to various problems.
</I>W2B035K
<I> <h> Focus on agricultural chemicals & machinery </h>
<h> Self-Sufficiency in Food a Priority </h>
<h> Emphasis on policies developing the agricultural sector </h>
Agriculture is the basis of Kenya's economy, being the country's largest employer, highest contributor to gross domestic product and an important foreign exchange earner. But for agriculture to continue playing this vital role effectively, considering that only about 20 per cent of the country's total land area is arable, and given the high cost of irrigating arid areas in order to make them agriculturally productive, the importance of agricultural chemicals and machinery cannot be overemphasised. Such chemicals include pesticides, herbicides and fertiliser, while the machinery includes tractors, <-/harvestors> and harrows.
Self-sufficiency in food production is now a priority in Kenya as it is for many other African countries. It is not surprising, therefore, that the government lays great emphasis on policies and strategies that seek to accelerate the development of the agricultural sector, which also provides raw materials for the country's processing industries. Last year, the government announced that it would form an agricultural bank that would provide prompt and reliable credit for farmers.
Early last year, the government decontrolled the prices of fertilisers, making the marketing of the commodity easier. Before the decontrol, organisations marketing fertilisers would not release them until the government had announced new prices every year, and this tended to interfere with the prompt delivery of fertilisers to farming areas, sometimes delaying planting until long after the rains had begun. This year, however, farmers got their fertilisers on time, and are at the moment busy planting. The only hitch arose early this year, when there were rumours about a shortage of fertilisers; the government was quick, however, to announce the arrival of a consignment in Mombasa, allaying any such fears. The fertiliser was said to have been bought with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAid), which has funded importation for several years now.
Kenya spends an average of shs. 300 to 500 million annually in importing fertiliser, making fertiliser a leading consumer of foreign exchange. It is with this in mind that the minister for agriculture, Mr. Elijah Mwangale, recently announced that Kenya would soon set up a fertiliser factory. There have been several unsuccessful attempts to establish such factories in the past; failure has been mainly due to lack of raw materials, despite the availability of a sufficient market both locally and in the wider preferential trade area.
One of the government's most notable attempts to establish a fertiliser factory was in 1980, when, after an Italian technical mission had made a preliminary study of Kenya's fertiliser supply and demand situation and recommended the establishment of such a factory, the government set up the national agricultural chemical and Fertiliser project, which was charged with planning, constructing and producing fertilisers for the country. The project which was based in Mombasa, is said to have failed to take off for lack of manpower.
The government has encouraged the setting-up of many agricultural machinery suppliers, which stock a wide range of equipment for large- and medium-scale farming. About 10 models of tractors for large-scale farming have been approved for importation by the land development division of the ministry of agriculture. These are John Deere, which are distributed by Holman Brothers, Massey Ferguson, sold by Farm Machinery Distributors, International Harvesters, sold by Lima Ltd., Same, marketed by Cassin and Toronto Fiat Kenya Ltd., Lamborgini, marketed by Lamborgini Tractors (Farmted Ltd.; Deutez, sold by Macleod and Agrotechnics and Kubota, distributed by Gailey and Roberts. To reduce importation costs, the tractors are imported as knocked-down kits for local assembly, although there are complaints that they have become virtually unaffordable to many farmers.
With the technology available to farmers having a bearing on improved agricultural production, the challenge is for local manufacturers and suppliers of farm machinery and implements constantly to improve their products and services and make them more available. And because the tracts of farmland available are fast diminishing in size as a result of population pressure, it is likely that the answer to food sufficiency lies in intensive cultivation for which the appropriate machinery will be needed.
Farm Machinery Distributors are giving farmers one of the best offers ever. Under this offer, dubbed the "Mkulima special", a free offset trailed harrow will be given with each purchase of any one of four models in Massey Ferguson's versatile 300 series -- MF 365, MF 375, MF 3900 (all 2-wheel drives) or the MF 399, a 4-wheel drive: the firm will avail finance to those who qualify for it through their in-house tractor finance scheme.
Massey Ferguson have also launched a new haulage tractor, the 375 H, built specially for short-distance transportation. The new tractor, supplied by Farm Machinery Distributors, is reliable and robust, with an eight-speed manual transmission ideal for hard local conditions. It is equipped with a Perkins engine and offers a viable and economical alternative to transporters and hauliers who have been relying on trucks or ploughing tractors for their operations. The tractor is supplied with different size trailers, and is supported by Farm Machinery Distributors' countrywide parts and service representatives.
Kenya's shortage of arable land is exacerbated by a high population growth rate and high population densities in farming areas. Many economists, while disputing suggestions that Kenya has reached its ultimate land frontier, acknowledge that the pressure on land in certain parts of the country, especially in Central, Western and Nyanza provinces, is undoubtedly severe. Statistics on the distribution of high-, medium- and low-potential land and of population by provinces bring out the contrast between Kenya's overall population density of 0.3 persons per <-/hactare>, and the much less favourable 40 persons per arable hectare. Eastern and Rift Valley provinces are expected to join the ranks of high population density areas, partly as a result of immigration and partly due to natural population increases.
In recent times, the government has emphasised the possibility of expanding the supply of agricultural land through irrigation, drainage or the conversion of forests. Perhaps the most significant step in this direction was the <-/>the creation two years ago of the ministry of arid, semi-arid and waste lands, which is charged with the duty of seeking ways to develop such areas. But there is growing scepticism regarding irrigation drainage and conversion of forests as methods of increasing agricultural land. For instance, the failure of most large-scale irrigation projects undertaken by the government in the past has left Kenya with only one successful project, the Mwea Irrigation Scheme. Although drainage, which could add an estimated 600,000 <-/hactares> to Kenya's arable land areas, is cheaper than irrigation, Kenya has little experience in this field. In short, while there is certainly some potentially cultivable land at present lying unutilised and unusable, particularly in Cost Province, converting it to productive use would not be very easy.
Conversion of forests into agricultural land would undoubtedly face stiff opposition from environmentalists. Indeed, government policy safeguards natural forests against destruction, with emphasis on tree-planting to protect the water catchment areas. So none of these modes of converting uncultivable land appear to offer short-term solutions to the land problem. Which leaves increased use of agricultural chemicals and machinery Kenya's viable answer at present to self-sufficiency in food production.
Although Kenya has a respectable annual agricultural growth rate of 3.5 per cent, this is below that of population growth, which was four per cent until 1989, when it fell to 3.6 per cent, and way below the government's desired five per cent as set out in Sessional Paper No 1 of 1986. The use of technology and chemicals is crucial if Kenya is to achieve this target, but the choice of such technology should be made carefully. Recent experience has shown that smallholders, who produce a very high percentage of the country's cash and food crops, tend to adopt new technologies relatively faster than their large-scale counterparts, whose technological flexibility is limited by the ownership of large-scale machinery that cannot easily be disposed of. Any technologies with positive long-term effects on the environment are likely to be easily adopted, as are those that support sustainable development and are economically acceptable to small-scale farmers, who are playing an increasingly important role in agricultural production.
There is an urgent need for the judicious use of agricultural chemicals to arrest environmental degradation. Ammonium-based fertilisers, for example, are known to release ammonia (especially when applied to dry soil), which has a toxic effect on seedlings. These fertilizers also increase the acidity of moist soil, evidence of which can be seen in wheat farms in the Rift Valley province, in areas such as Moiben, Eldoret, Kaptagat, Kipkabus, Molo, Subukia and parts of Narok District. 
</I><I> <h> Focus on tree-planting </h>
<h> Forests, Essential to Everyone's Survival </h>
<h> Damaging land-use practices must be reversed </h>
Today, less than 20 per cent of Kenya's total land area is arable, the rest being a vast expanse of semi-arid land sparsely covered by acacia and other scrub. The reasons for the depletion of these once-forested areas have been the subject of intense academic debate, but it has generally been agreed that the lifestyles of the inhabitants of the affected areas have contributed to the disappearance of the once-rich vegetative cover, leading to soil erosion by wind and water. Whatever the causes, environmentalists warn that the scenario might well be repeated in the arable areas if the present generation does not take the necessary precautions. In order to avoid further environmental degradation, the government emphasises the need for the <-_plant><+_planting> of more trees, by both institutions and individuals, and usually sets aside a day early during the long rains on which leaders officially launch the tree-planting season. This day, which is known as national tree-planting day, is an important illustration of the government's commitment to the conservation of natural resources, especially forests.
Forests, which are essential life-support systems, occupy three per cent of the country's total land area. The preservation and conservation of forests have received a lot of government attention since Independence. Major policy objectives for planning and management include the preservation and conservation of forests as an essential component of the environment; the promotion of forestry as an aspect of economic and industrial development; the protection and the conservation of soils using vegetative cover; the provision of fuelwood and charcoal, since wood remains the cheapest and most accessible form of energy; and establishment of research and development programmes in forestry, including for medicinal purposes. The changes in forest resources, which have been occasioned by changing land-use practices, have sharply increased the need for a review of national forestry planning and management strategies in order to adapt to such needs as controlling soil erosion, catchment conservation and preventing desertification.
To facilitate the achievement of these objectives, the government has established ministries such as environment and natural resources, arid, semi-arid and wastelands, and agriculture, as well as institutions like the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (Kefri) and the permanent presidential commission on soil conservation and afforestation. The government also reviews the progress and procedures of the afforestation programme through its successive five-year development programmes, and encourages the participation of non-governmental organisations in the afforestation programme.
For management purposes, forests are categorised into <use/>gazetted forests, national game reserves and privately-owned forests. Ninety-three per cent of the country's total forested area is natural forest and efforts are being made to increase indigenous forest cover in order to enhance the protection of water catchment areas as well as of the flora and fauna. The promotion of the economic and industrial use of forestry resources within the framework of afforestation and reafforestation programmes has been vigorously pursued by the government. This spirit is also being embraced by important vegetation-based industries, such as the tobacco and paper-making industries. Indeed, two of the foremost campaigners for afforestation are the Pan-African Paper Mills and BAT (K) Ltd., both of which sponsor huge afforestation programmes.
The government also encourages the development of research and training in forestry. Indeed, the establishment of Kefri under the Science and Technology Act was a major development in forestry resources planning and management. </I>
W2B036K
<I> <h> Institute is one of JICA's leading research projects </h>
THE Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) is financed and sustained by the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA).
The purpose of this project has remained as the improvement of public health in Kenya through research activities, the development of human resources in the institute, and the promotion of appropriate technology, especially in the field of virology (diarrhoea and hepatitis) bacteriology and parasitology.
The Japan international co-operation agency, has, as a way of developing research in the developing countries and improving the health of those countries' citizens chipped in to provide expert assistance in research and facilitate that research by provision of expensive and sophisticated laboratory equipment. It is such equipment that have made KEMRI one of the most developed research institutes in this part of the continent.
KEMRI today boasts of the presence of nine Japanese experts and according to the institute's information officer, Mr Lawrence Gikaru, the institute has benefited immensely from the presence of the experts both in its research and other activities.
JICA's presence has also transformed the institute's laboratories into a wide expanse of technology and sophistication. A visit to any one laboratory reveals an impressive array of advanced technological equipment which have greatly aided the institute's researchers to conduct research into areas in which it would have been impossible to venture without them.
And recently, in a move that represents a major leap in the use of these equipment and research results, the institute launched the Hepatitis B Kit developed and researched into by KEMRI.
The kit is supposed to help curb the spread of Hepatitis B virus through blood transfusion. Hepatitis B is a progressive disease with no known effective treatment that attacks the liver, which is the body's most complex organ after the brain. Seventy-five per cent of adults in Kenya are said to have been infected by the virus at one time in their life and between 10 and 20 per cent of them are carriers.
The study of the Hepatitis B virus that has led to the development of the kit is done under the electron microscope in the institute's electron microscopy room. The electron microscope can magnify a specimen more than 90,000 times. It is one of the most telling testimony of what collaboration between JICA and the institute can achieve.
Such collaboration has also led to the development of numerous other research projects throughout the country. JICA has particularly played a major role in health programmes in Kenya and only recently, JICA handed over to KEMRI a modern bacteriology built and equipped at a cost of Shs 2.5 million by the Japanese agency.
Most of the buildings and laboratories in the institute have been built and developed with the aid of JICA which has spent over 2,745 million Japanese Yen (about Shs 274 million). The period of assistance and co-operation between JICA and KEMRI is about five years, from May 1990 to April 1995. However, the period may be extended with the request of the Kenya government and the agreement of such an extension by both parties. 
</I><I> <h> Marked progress in forestry </h>
TO turn an arid or semi-arid area from a cracking dry parchment to something like a green belt is a dishearteningly difficult task. Yet, with desertification coming our way at a baffling speed and the need to conserve our forests becoming ever more urgent, the difficulty of performing such an act pales into insignificance.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has been doing this work of trying to beat down desertification on Kenyan soils.
With its assistance, training facilities have been constructed in Muguga, 30 km north-west of Nairobi and Kitui, 180 km to the east of Nairobi.
The Social Forestry Training Institute in Kutui is located in a <-/particuarly> dry area, an area prone to massive deforestation and intolerably high temperatures.
Yet despite these odds, the institute has flourished, turning large areas of dry and semi-arid land into a bristle of greenery and forestry. This has largely been achieved through the expertise offered by Japanese experts and the know-how exhibited by Kenyan staff, trained through social forestry programmes and who work in these areas.
The objective of this project has been to carry out social forestry training at the national and regional levels and to implement a pilot forest scheme combined with the training at regional level.
The Social Forestry Training project has <-/benefitted> immediately from the assistance of the Japanese government. So far 23 long term Japanese experts and 25 short-term experts have been assigned to the project. 24 counterpart staff have been invited to Japan for training.
The Kenya/Japan Social Forestry Training Project (SFTP) preparatory phase in Kitui was started in 1985. During the two year preparatory phase, training facilities for this particular project were constructed and a survey to determine training needs at Kitui Centre was carried out.
Active training activities in this centre started in December 1988. The objectives planned for Kitui Centre have been pursued through the promotion of self reliant tree planting programmes at the grass roots level to alleviate energy crisis, environmental degradation and boost environmental resources in rural areas. 
</I><I> <h> Agency administers Japan aided development projects </h>
THE Japan International Co-operation Agency is the arm of the Japanese government charged with the responsibility of undertaking major portions of bilateral grant aid.
It is in charge of technical co-operation and assists in the implementation of grant co-operation.
With its slogan of "Nation, building, human development and heart-to-heart communication" the basic objective of JICA activities is to develop human resources to lead the nation-building endeavours in developing countries.
In Kenya, JICA is a common <-/featue>. Started in August 1 1974, JICA celebrates 18 years of its existence in Kenya today. To many Kenyans, it is not any stranger, especially because of the fact that it has <-/ben> associated with the inception and growth of such big names like Jomo Kenyatta University College of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya Medical Research Institute among others in the country.
The activities of JICA in the country are legion. It provides technical co-operation, by accepting trainees and training them in the relevant technical fields.
Last year, 120 Kenyans received training in Japan and from the time of JICA's introduction into the country to March last year, a total of 1,169 trainees have so far been trained in Japan.
The organisation also encourages <-/extrainees> to have alumni association. It also dispatches experts in its endeavours to encourage, technology transfer to various countries in the world. This is one of the agency's fundamental forms of technical cooperation and it aims at helping human resources development.
The experts so transferred make every effort to transfer the technology that is most appropriate to the country, overcoming the difficulties of language and climate and various other natural and social conditions. In Kenya, the agency has 71 experts and 51 volunteers under the Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOVC).
JICA is also involved in the provision of equipment to enhance the effectiveness of the technical cooperation of the experts and trainees. This type of co-operation is one of the greatest mainstays of JICA in Kenya and is granted in combination with some kind of human cooperation.
JICA also embarks on a programme to provide comprehensive assistance aimed at promoting technology transfer. This is done through project-type technical cooperation programme which provides integrated <-/asistance> from planning and implementation to evaluation by combining three forms of cooperation.
The first is the acceptance of trainees, the second is the dispatch of experts and the third is the equipment grants. Through this programme, various activities including training in, and diffusion of the most suitable technology are carried out.
Grassroots co-operation is a basic tenet of JICA. This is done through the dispatch of Japan Overseas Co-operation Volunteers (JOVC). In Kenya, there already are 51 volunteers who have specific skills and who live and work with the local people and help in the socioeconomic development of the local communities. The length of these volunteers is generally two years.
JICA is also involved in saving lives. It provides emergency disaster relief to calamity-hit areas and refugees.
It provides equipment and materials needed for disaster relief and restoration activities as well as emergency medical care.
While other donors countries have been disillusioned with the rampant corruption that has at times led to misappropriation of aid money, JICA makes sure that such a thing does not happen by paying directly to the people doing the job for which assistance is being offered instead of going through the ministry concerned. </I><I> <h> JICA's high profile projects </h>
THE Jomo Kenyatta University College of Agriculture (JKUCAT) remains the most conspicuous project undertaken by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Besides being the largest in Kenya, this project is also the biggest the agency has undertaken all over the world. It is a perfect example of JICA's project-type technical cooperation.
JKUCAT was planned in 1977 as a diploma college. It was constructed in 1979 as the then JKCAT through the Japanese government Grant Aid. It became fully operational in 1981 as a technical cooperation project by JICA.
Its establishment came in the wake of a severe shortage of engineers which in turn led the government into establishing a new college specialised in training and courting professional skills.
The Kenyan government then requested the Japanese government to provide grant aid for constructing college facilities and technical cooperation for conducting educational activities at the new college.
Its birth then followed a detailed survey done by a JICA team in November 1977 which sought to determine the feasibility of the college's construction with grant aid. Another team was sent in 1978 to make detailed surveys aimed at formulating a master plan for the college's construction and planning the educational activities at the college.
Based on the results of these two surveys, studies were made among concerned Japanese ministries and eventually the Japanese cabinet decided on the implementations of a 4,8 billion yen grant for this project. Construction started and was completed in 1981.
The project was to cover a period of five years and was to have a total of 22 experts as well as 16 JOCV members. A total of 70 trainees were also to be accepted in Japan. The contractual agreement was, however, extended by another five years in 1984.
The main purpose and function of the project is to consolidate the basis for an under-graduate programme in the fields of horticulture, agricultural engineering, food science and post-harvest technology, civil engineering, architecture, mechanical engineering and electrical and electronic engineering at JKUCAT.
Today, the <-/institiution> offers a strongly technical oriented curriculum in advanced science and technology. The campus' Principal, Professor R.W. Michieka, notes that within its first decade of existence, the campus made a remarkable consolidation of the JKUCAT facilities and a lot of expansion took place through the co-operation of the Japanese <-/governent> via JICA.
Located on the Nairobi-Thika Highway, 40 km north-east of Nairobi, the campus sits on a vast compound of 200 ha donated by the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. Currently, the university college has a total of 1,500 residential students, including 700 diploma students and 150 academic staff.
Though assistance of JICA, the institution's laboratories and workshops are among the best equipped in the country, and notes Professor Michieka, an annual sum of 5 million yens per department is spent on equipment and the library has built its stock to about 25,000 volumes.
The university college has put emphasis on diversification of courses and has a strong bias on technical oriented training in the curriculum. It has most recently started a master degree programme in <-/enterpreneurship>. This programme is sponsored by the International Labour Organisation and UNDP and is run with assistance from the university of Illinois. The programme is the first of its kind in the continent.
The emphasis on technical courses at the university is aimed at helping the students overcome the problem of unemployment upon graduation as well as providing the nation with reliable technical experts.
While the Kenya Government takes responsibilities for staff salaries and other emoluments, the government of Japan through JICA has made very significant contributions towards staff development in this institution. </I>W2B037K
<I> <h> Irrigation Supplement </h>
<h> Proper use of irrigation for greater production </h>
The level of a country's development can be seen through the way the population is capable of feeding itself. Food and its availability are important issues which have necessitated the development of agricultural techniques deemed appropriate in tackling natural calamities like drought so that all the available arable land is put to full use.
In this respect, irrigation has evolved to become a method which enables agriculture to be carried out throughout the year. Under irrigation  crops can be cultivated in places where rainfall is scanty, or in regions experiencing long dry spells.
From the Egyptian Shaduf system which is now regarded as archaic, irrigation methods are now fully mechanised and all over the world from India, China, USA, Russia, Pakistan, Sudan, South Africa to Israel various methods are applied.
In these countries and others where necessity has forced the application of the various methods, water from ponds, lakes and rivers is distributed on a calculated basis to meet the crop needs.
The canal and ditch systems used for irrigating large rice fields like the ones common in Ahero, West Kano, Bunyala.
Pekera and Bura Irrigation schemes are but one way of ensuring that water reaches the paddies in adequate amounts to give maximum yields.
The method is best suited for flat terrain where water can easily flow in one direction. It is not applicable on hilly ground and thus sprinklers are used instead.
Sprinklers consist of perforated pipes with each perforation producing a jet. A water driven oscillator rotates the pipe to and fro about a longitudinal axis and the water ejects through special nozzles to improve the distribution of water over a wide radius.
Sprinklers are advantageous because they are portable and can be moved from one point of the farm to another and has no distance limitation. Since most of the pipes are made of aluminium, they are light.
Israel which is known as a world leader in irrigation technology, diversified the sprinkler method into several categories all aimed at making use of water in the most economic way possible.
These systems are available in the local market and are cost effective, outstanding yet simple in terms of installation, operation, modification and effectiveness.
According to Constructing Review, a local engineering magazine, the systems consist of a main pipe connected to the water source at high pressures and branch pipes on which are connected either drippers, pop ups or sprinklers. 
The drippers are used in irrigating crops, the pop ups in lawns and the sprinklers in providing overhead spraying in cases which the crops have been planted using the broadcasting methods. The crux of the system is that wastage is avoided since water is controlled and drops only where it's needed.
Again the dripper for example supplies water only to the roots of the particular plant hence cutting off unnecessary supply to weeds and other unwanted plants.
Given that over two thirds of land in Kenya is either arid or semi-arid and that the remaining portion is either under farming of forested, irrigation should play a major role in boosting the country's productivity.
Through research, assessment has to be made of the social and human settlement implications of establishing an irrigation system in an area.
The source of water, its quality, methods of conveyance have to be determined before hand just as the suitable type of crop and its water needs have to be looked into as well as inputs and the effect of irrigation on man have to be projected.
If well implemented, irrigation can stand in Kenya in good stead since it will reduce the pressure on cultivable land and put under crop thousands of hectares of land now laying fallow. Forests are threatened into being turned into farming zones and yet they form the rain catchment areas. </I><I> <h> Feeding nation through irrigation </h>
Farmers using irrigation method to produce food for the nation have a great friend in the name of Agro Irrigation Pumps and Services, a water technology firm dealing in all kinds of irrigation equipment.
The firm's chief executive, Mr Davendra Halai, says the policy of the company is to take care of farmers' needs and in harnessing the millions of litres of water which are not used but which can be meaningfully utilised if the country is to realise enough food for consumption and for export.
Available at Agro Irrigation and Pump Services are Centrifugal, Borehole and Industrial pumps as well as accessories and repair services. The services range from designing to installing irrigation systems in any part of the country.
To prevent the dumping of costly equipment after being bought by farmers from dealers who cannot avail spare parts or carry out servicing, the firm's engineers locally manufacture the parts and ensure that irrigation keeps up with the pace of development.
Those using sprinklers and others intending to do so need to ask for Ferrari, Single End and Double End couplings which are preferred by majority of farmers.
Mr Halai believes that abundant food, fruits and cash crops can be produced annually for local use and export if the right irrigation system is adopted and the key to this prosperity is through use of affordable and appropriate water technology which Agro Irrigation and Pumps Services designs and supplies. 
</I><I> <h> Warren understands water technology </h>
The necessity of water for life is unquestionable and Warren Enterprises Ltd one of the leading water technology experts in the country, is ensuring that the indispensable liquid is available where it is needed.
Its product range is extensive and comprehensive enough to include services in the field of water technology covering the design, construction and installation of water storage, conveyance, pumping, irrigation and purification systems for all sectors.
The firm's appliances are widely used in the agricultural, industrial and domestic fronts, for large and micro-scale production of valuable goods, sanitation and ultimately drinking.
Customers looking for a fair package to undertake irrigation schemes are offered specialised services from design to completion and benefits by being equipped with reliable products such as Lego drip, overhead irrigation, Ris, Irridelco irrigation systems and can opt for Amiad drip filtration and chemical/fertilizer injection system.
These systems can be tailored to many areas of agriculture, particularly in horticulture and in the planning sectors where conveyance and plumbing are major activities.
These consists of steel and aluminium piping, pipe fittings and pumps for virtually all purposes including irrigation and borehole boosters made by well known names as Rovatti, Mono and Washington Simpson, all reliable robust and well proven in the field.
Some of the firm's outstanding technological products are water storage containers made of Warren pressed steel sectional bolted tanks manufactured to BS1564 part two and KS-02-761 and round steel seam-welded tanks both supplied with or without supporting towers and walkways. The tanks have become a common site all over the country.
The firm's name has rightly become synonymous with water technology and the credit is partly to the after sales service backed by field technicians all conversant with customer needs.
Going by the credentials of the clients who have faith in Warren Enterprises Ltd and they include contractors, engineers, farmers, traders, government agencies and non-governmental organisations operating in the country and in the entire Preferential Trade Area (PTA), is enough proof of proven track record in water technology. </I><I> <h> The Technology </h>
<h> Now farmers can ‘family plan’ for their livestock </h>
<-_Though><+_Through> the efforts of genetic engineering, livestock farming is destined to change in such a way in this country that farmers will in future determine how they would like to raise their herds.
Planned breeding programmes are already taking place in developed countries taking over much of the nature's variations of livestock farming.
Hormone treatments on dairy cows determine to within an hour the time they will come on heat. Herds of over 100 hundred cows can now all come on heat in four hours instead of twenty-one days.
The next plan is to take the technique into beef industry while sheep and pig industry is also adopting the technique. A vet usually gives two injections of hormones within an interval of eleven days. Between 75-80 hours after the second injection, the cows are ready for insemination.
According to livestock breeding experts in Britain this method helps in insemination schedules. It also restricts the calving period and produces an evenly sized number of calves.
In sheep and pig industry, the vets inject hormones to induce lambing or farrowing. In such an exercise an entire flock of sheep or batch of sows could give birth in a specific day.
That day can be fixed according to the expected growth rate of the animals, so that they can be ready for marketing when prices are good. Breeders think that such hormone programmes are an essential part of techniques of transferring fertilised eggs from the best cows to inferior ones.
This technique speeds up the multiplication of the most productive genetic lines of livestock. The fertilised eggs could be deep frozen waiting for receptor cows to be found.
But the <-/lastest> refinement in breeding techniques is to collect fertilised eggs as they begin to divide into two or four cells. These cells are split through "microsurgery" and incubated temporarily in receptor sheep before being <-/transfered> to the host mother. The resultant calves or lambs are genetically identical.
Egg splitting research is still in its infancy but by the turn of the century, these genetic will definitely be with us.
Genetic engineering is also very advanced in plant breeding. New hybrids capable of resisting pests and diseases are being produced. This method is also advanced here in the country, where crop scientists have been able to produce seeds that could tolerate harsh climatic environments.
Single cells are taken from parents and enzymes from the digestive tracts of snails or insects are used to strip off the walls of the cells. Chemical agents then disrupt the organisation of the genes within the cells and the contents of the naked cells are allowed to mix to produce hybrids, which are coaxed into growth on special nutrients.
The growth compound used may contain a herbicide or excessive salt. The seedlings that survive in these compounds are then multiplied. Such plantlets become tolerant to that herbicide or to high salt soils. 
</I><I> <h> The Technology </h>
<h> Scourge of the tropics </h>
Malaria is the most widespread contagious disease in the tropics. Every year more than one million people die from this dreaded disease. The complicated life cycle of the malaria parasite and the possibility of its developing resistance to a given drug makes the search for a reliable medicine considerably more difficult.
It has been estimated that about 46 per cent of the total world population live in areas where there is a reasonable chance of contracting malaria. It is therefore the most threatening infectious tropical disease at the moment.
But it is possible that a study undertaken by biochemists at the university of Utrecht in Netherlands will offer some insight into the problem. According to Counterpart magazine, a recent study was carried out by Dr Gert Moll of the centre for bio-membranes and Lipide Enzymology of the State University of Utrecht.
Dr Moll discovered that red blood cells infected by malaria parasites have a different membrane structure than healthy red blood cells. Scientists say what is needed to be done is to find medicine which can distinguish between healthy blood cells and infected ones and which can destroy the integrity of the membrane of the infected cell.
Researchers further say in doing that the <-_parasites><+_parasite's> host is removed, the parasite finds itself temporarily in the blood stream and dies. They add that it is most unlikely that the parasite will be able to develop resistance to this form of treatment.
The parasite responsible for malaria is called plasmodium and needs two hosts: the malaria mosquito (anopheles) and human beings. The term malaria dates back to the 17th century and originated in Italy.
The battle against malaria has been fought on two fronts - that is against the malaria mosquito and secondly against the parasite itself. </I>W2B038K
<I> <h> '<ea/>Nyama <ea/>choma' culture under threat </h>
<h> Beef getting scarce </h>
Unless Kenyans change their eating habits, beef shortage is likely going to hit the country as the population continues to rise, warned the Minister for Livestock Development, Mr Jeremiah Nyagah last week. He also cautioned that the country may have to import beef by the year 2000.
In a speech read for him by an Assistant Minister in the Ministry, Dr Noah Wekesa during a farmers' field day at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Beef Research Centre at Lanet, the Minister said that already the demand for meat had risen beyond the available supply.
The country presently produces 172,000-metric tonnes of beef which makes up nearly 57.3 per cent of the red meat produced in 1988.
On the other hand, the domestic demand for meat is estimated at about 300,000 metric tonnes. "This means demand for meat already outstrips supply" Mr Nyaah stated.
By the turn of the century the demand for meat is expected to rise to 550,000 tonnes. Meat consumed in the country is from sheep, goats and cattle.
From these figures, it is clear that the county will have to import over 200,000 metric tonnes of beef to feed the population projected to 35 million by the turn of the century.
There is therefore urgent need to increase production of beef not only to meet the expected higher domestic demand, but also to generate exportable surplus to earn foreign exchange, Mr Nyagah told the farmers.
According to research findings on beef consumption, urban dwellers consume 150 per cent more beef per person than rural dwellers and per capita consumption is expected to rise at the same rate as per capita incomes.
Current consumption is supplied mostly from within Kenya by the beef herd on large scale farms, small-scale-holder <ea/>zebu herd and the pastoral herd.
What are the factors that inhibit the production of meat? According to the Minister, these include low investment levels, undeveloped  infrastructure, such as roads, lack of credit facilities, outbreak of diseases, several of which resulted in quarantines, and sub-division of land in semi-arid arid and district into small and uneconomic parcels.
Another problem that faces the beef industry is the profitability which is not enough to encourage investment.
With present returns on investment of only 6 to 8 per cent a year, it would take a 30 per cent increase in beef prices relative to dairy and other farm prices to encourage private investment in beef.
Livestock production is being squeezed out of high potential areas due to population pressure and the increased demand for good crop production to meet the food demands of the increasing population.
It is imperative that livestock production must progressively move to the medium and low potential areas while maximising production on the limited land in the high potential areas.
<h> Extensive </h>
Since the beef industry was not profitable, the government was prompted to decontrol meat prices to act as an incentive to the farmer.
The 1989-1993 Development Plan says among other things that the underlying assumption for long-term livestock development policy is that, given the current trends in domestic supply and demand, the country is likely to face large deficits of livestock products which might lead to costly imports.
While the demand for livestock products keeps rising in line with population growth rates, the supply of land for extensive grazing in the medium and high potential areas is getting increasingly scarce, the plan notes.
There are also considerable difficulties in increasing the productivity of the range areas, thus the possibilities for increasing livestock production lie mainly in intensive feeding zero-grazing.
Another area that could promote beef production would be the improvement and development of the Arid and Semi- Arid Lands (ASAL).
Livestock remains the most profitable way of utilising the extensive rangelands of ASAL, the Development Plan says, noting that the viability of the pastoral and nomadic systems will be enhanced through improved disease control, range rehabilitation, production of supplementary feed and food crops using water harvesting techniques.
<h> Quarantine </h>
<-/Pastrolists> will be encouraged to match livestock numbers more closely to wet season and post drought rangelands carrying capacities while reducing these numbers to match combined grazing, irrigated fodder and reserve feed supplies in the dry season.
Other specific measures will include:
* Extension of the current foreign donor supported disease control rehabilitation projects to all ASAL districts and particularly Machakos, Kitui, Baringo and Turkana.
* Rehabilitation of stock routes, sales yards and quarantine holding grounds, and generation and better supply of market information and provision of weighing equipment to local councils to facilitate sale on live-weight basis.
* Encouraging the private sector to establish commercial breeding and fattening projects initially financed by foreign donor support and administered through the commercial banks with the specific aim of restocking after drought.
* Encouraging other specialised business to identify and supply export markets with processed livestock products.
* Rehabilitation of livestock watering points and additional provision of such facilities intended to reduce range destruction caused by concentration of livestock numbers in consultation with the pastoralists.
* Examining possibilities for more extensive land use for livestock grazing in national parks and reserves or in buffer zones in specific ecological contexts.
Sessional Paper No 1 of 1986 on economic management and renewed growth says that tsetse fly infestation prevents expansion of land under beef herding.
The elimination of tsetse would require an investment of E 25 million with co-operation from both Somalia and Tanzania and research to overcome the new strains of trypanosome that are resistance to existing drugs.
<h> Ranches </h>
Diseases have been a major obstacle to increased livestock production in many parts of the country, the sessional paper states.
<foreign/>Rinderpest is a potentially devastating disease that is kept under control by regular vaccination of yearlings and of cattle near the country's borders.
Foot-and-mouth disease, which can sharply reduce dairy production among improved stock is controlled by the combination of vaccination and movement restrictions.
Perhaps the major bottleneck in the commercial production of beef results from the subdivision of ranches.
<h> Feelings </h>
According to statistics from the Ministry of livestock, sub-division of ranches results from purchase by individuals or co-operatives, who proceed to split them into uneconomic sizes and one cannot keep as many animals as before on such plots. 
The sub-division of ranches especially in Kajiado and Narok districts has been received with a lot of feelings from various quarters.
Recent findings indicate that, one cannot keep one animal on a five-acre plot in such areas, it should be about 12 acres to one animal.
Sub-division, the findings reveal, was a sure way of killing the animal rearing activity in Masailand.
It is much easier to run beef herds on a large scale than on small holdings.
The small <-/unviable> plots are being converted into crop land, which is obviously unwise because chances of getting a crop especially maize are minimal because of inadequate rains.
Group ranches mainly in Kajiado and Narok areas were set up as part of the second livestock development programme.
The idea was to pool together enough farmers who would benefit collectively from the technical advice, while management would be left to individuals within the ranches.
<h> Starvation </h>
The problem with the current trend is that the sub-division may reach an extent where there can be no further sub-division.
But another school of thought fully supports the sub-division of the ranches and emphasised the sub-division for land tenure purposes.
Once the sub-division is completed, people require <-/tittle> deeds to secure loans.
When land is Sub-<-/divised>, everyone is responsible for his own piece of land and in the event of drought, loss due to animal starvation is minimised.
To have enough meat for all of us today and other 13 million mouths to come in the next ten years, the government will have to look at several areas which hold the key to improved animal husbandry.
Owing to the increasing pressure on land, the government will have to launch a vigorous promotional campaign for zero-grazing and take measures to revitalise the Central Artificial Insemination Services and the Kenya National Artificial Services.
It should be noted that the Ministry of Livestock Development is in the process of privatising major functions of animal clinical services, tick control and others.
<h> Custody </h>
Under the tick control programme, management of dips would be transferred to village dip committees from June next year.
They revolutionary changes proposed by the ministry will go a long way to ensure that farmers get the services whenever they desired.
But it is lamentable that from past experience, dips handed to the village committees had not performed well. If the ministry hopes that things will be better organised as from next year, they must be involved in keeping custody of funds collected from dipping services.
Extension services is another area that the ministry should emphasise and improve for the benefit of both the farmer and the country. 
</I><I> <h> Hi-tech machines at KPCU </h>
Kenya coffee continues to be in great demand world-wide thanks to technologically advanced machinery that handle and process it to the highest standard before it is exported.
Hand sorting of coffee beans with a view to removing the poor quality and coloured ones would be tedious and time consuming. The colour sorting machines which are computer controlled therefore come in handy.
According to the managing director of the Kenya Planters Co-operative Union Limited, Mr J.M. Nyagah, the colour sorting machines at KPCU identify and subsequently isolate and remove the poor product.
The machines are said to improve the quality of members' coffee by up to three quality classes. "KPCUs colour sorting machines are designed to detect and isolate low quality discoloured coffee beans from fast flowing product streams," said the chief executive of KPCU.
Coffee beans streams are channelled into viewing zones by vibrating trays and chutes or belts. Each chute directs a stream of beans through a viewing zone where the product is viewed by optical sensors against a coloured, illuminated background. The light or colour from the background and from the commodity is converted into electrical signals by photosensors.
The signals are then passed on to electronic units for processing and decision making to determined whether the bean already viewed is of acceptable colour or not. If not acceptable, reject signals are generated and passed on to high pressure ejectors which emit jets of compressed air at the reject product, deflecting it from the product stream. That way, low quality beans discoloured coffee beans are isolated while good quality beans are channelled and bagged for marketing.
Although colour sorting <-/mechines> are capable of identifying and isolating coffee beans that may have deteriorated in quality and changed colour due to poor husbandry in the farms, <-/farmentation> and drying in rural pulping factories, they cannot identify or identify or isolate hidden stickers.
Such hidden stickers on the coffee beans are identified and isolated by Ultra Violet (UV) sorting machines, said the managing director of the KPCU.
The principle operation of UV machines is the same as that of conventional sorting machines except that the viewing zone has Ultra Violet light. The machines subject the stream of coffee beans to Ultra Violet rays. The beans tend to glow or fluoresce if they are of poor quality.
The managing director says: "The great care and attention given to Kenya coffee by farmers in rural areas, coupled with KPCU's electronic colours and Ultra Violet sorting machines and other processing facilities of the organisation improves its quality to enviable level".
Application of electronic colour sorting technology on Kenya Coffee by KPCU started in 1974 with the main objective of raising the quality of coffee milled by KPCU mills before it is handed over to the Coffee Board of Kenya for auctioning.
The first colour sorting machines may have appeared in Great Britain during the second world war. Their intervention was necessitated by a shortage of labour as many people were involved in the war.
Since then, research in industrialised countries has produced high precision electronic sorting machines suitable for crop processing. Such machines as those used at KPCU require little human intervention. </I>W2B039K
<I> <h> Dairying </h>
<h> Here is a cheap way to cool all your milk </h>
"All that glitters is not gold" is a familiar proverb whose truism can as well stand for the fact that glitter is not the only determinant that a gem is "gold" (the sparkle may be hidden or obscured by a thick dust coat!). Simply, the ordinariness, <-/lacklusture> or commonplace quality of some things masks or keeps under the surface the object's grand qualities.
For quite some time I had been on the look-out for any farmer using a structure that fits the above description in relation to other types of structures serving the same purpose of milk-cooling.
About two months ago, a friend told me of a farm with such a structure. Quite ordinary looking, resembling a small cupboard and rare in many farms and homes, this is a gadget whose owners have come to like as an invaluable home appliance. The owner of the farm I visited speaks well of the device.
He revealed to me that were it not for that charcoal-cooler, he would not have <-/benefitted> much from dairying.
A year ago there was no milk collection centre near his home. Many farmers in the area were forced to sell milk to the neighbours. But the farmers found it a big problem keeping evening milk in good condition to be sold in the morning.
Salvation came to that farmer when he saw a <ea/>Jua <ea/>Kali cooler in another farm and observed how it worked. He decided that he too should have one. Until the material he used rusted and started giving food an abnormal smell, the farmer has been using the cooler not only for milk but also for preserving other foodstuffs. However, he does not miss the cooler's services as he would have a year ago since now a milk-collection centre has been opened up in his area.
Milk cooling using whatever type of a cooler is one of the most important operations in the dairy industry. Cooled milk stays for long at high quality levels. This helps to check the enormous losses that would occur in the overall production process since milk spoilage is greatly reduced.
Usually milk that has turned sour or has been heavily contaminated with bacteria and other foreign objects by the time of arrival at its place of disposal will be rejected.
Milk must be suitably cooled if the time taken to transport it to its destination is long.
By cooling one aims at stopping bacterial activities as these affect the smell and taste of milk.
Because the bacteria found in milk multiply rapidly in raw milk, it is important that temperature after milking is lowered as soon as possible to keep the bacteria dormant.
Where it is not possible to employ the very expensive open or closed mechanical coolers, one can turn to the cheaper charcoal coolers.
The charcoal-cooler is a very simple structure. It is built to look like a cupboard except that it has a layer of charcoal placed between the outside wall and (mostly but not always) a wire mesh. The size of the cooler will depend on individual requirements as does compartmentalisation of the cabinet.
Used properly, a charcoal-cooler is capable of cooling milk for two or three days. Most kitchen foodstuffs can be preserved in this cooler for up to four days.
Operating it is a simple affair. All that is needed once the structure has been bought is water for effecting the cooling.
The procedure is to pour water on the charcoal in the morning. To encourage greater cooling or even to ensure cooling while one is not there for many hours, the idea is to put a piece of cloth, sack or rag on the top face of the cooler and then to pour water on that material. Water then drips slowly and evenly on to the charcoal to give sustained and uniform cooling. The piece of rag should hang evenly on all walls of the structure from the top.
It is unfortunate that few people know of the existence and usefulness of this simple and cheap facility. However, it is possible to obtain it from the many village polytechnics in the country.
There are people who have adopted this cooler's working mechanism to build "cold rooms". 
</I><I> <h> Your <ea/>Shamba </h>
<h> Best method of stock rearing </h>
Zero-grazing most popular and practical alternative of livestock rearing
Bare-chested, shirt tied around the waist and a worn-out trouser folded up to the knees and with sweat glistening on his forehead, the man pants as he pushes a wheelbarrow full if cut grass over a hilly path. He knows that he will be welcomed by the protesting lowing of his two dairy cows.
Even with a slight variation to this picture, but with the basic facts remaining essentially the same, the above portrays the operating of a zero-grazing enterprise.
Most probably, this is not the first time you are hearing of the term "zero-grazing", taking into consideration that this term floats around some social gatherings in these days of the Aids scare. But are you familiar with the actual meaning of the term?
Zero-grazing is a system adopted in the feeding of livestock.
As contrasted to other feeding systems such as continuous grazing, strip and rotational grazing, this system represents a unique way of rearing livestock. Here, animals have no access to the pasture or grazing field. Instead, green forage is grown, is cut or harvested and carried to the animals, which are confined in stables or stalls. Water is also availed to the animals there.
Fundamentally, this practice is seen in dairy farms. However, meat animals about to be marketed are for some time kept this way to gain weight faster before they are sold for slaughter.
Already this system has led to increased production, more especially in milk production.
The system is prompted by the diminishing land sizes. With the country's overcrowded in the agriculturally rich parts and the growth rate an <-/uneviably> high there is a correspondingly increased pressure on land use.
Human habitation, crop farming and livestock keeping compete for the constant land resource.
To set aside large tracts of land necessary for livestock to roam is impossible in these areas of dense populations. Consequently, zero-grazing requiring little land per animal, has emerged as the most popular, practically possible alternative way of rearing livestock on small-scale.
Zero-grazing saves on land use because forage production per land unit and eventual utilisation is four times higher than in a free grazing system. The remaining land can then be put to other uses.
The system is applicable where arable fodder crops are available for the most part of the year. These are all areas of high and well distributed rainfall.
There has been a fast increase in the number of zero-grazing enthusiasts no doubt due to the increasing demand for milk as a source of animal protein to a large part of the countries population. Many families are finding it economical to keep at least one cow to provide milk for home consumption as well as selling the surplus for some income.
Some places have seen a trend whereby housewives have taken up zero-grazing as a form of employment. Free for a larger part of the day after leaving the <ea/>shambas these women have found in zero-grazing an attractive alternative occupation to the various options open to them. 
Moreover, hailing from areas of mixed farming, the farmers have a good supply of fonder crops e.g. sweet-potato, vines maize leaves and stovers, banana stems, etc.
Except for feeding system, all conditions being similar, animals in zero-grazing units produce more than those reared under other systems. Dairy animals give more milk and meat animals put on more weight relatively faster than those fed differently.
This obvious advantage is attributable to several factors. Animals raised in this way utilise less energy in movement unlike where they have to trek long distances for pastures and where they must themselves harvest the forage. Most of the energy obtained from <-/feedstuffs> is instead channelled to production as little is used up in maintenance.
Great feed economy is achieved through a considerable reduction in pasture wastage.
Under those systems where animals feed on pasture directly, trampling by animals causes a great loss to overall pasture productivity. Such pasture takes long to <-/regrow>.
Animals, being what they are, <-/defaecate> and urinate on pasture during grazing. Later, this fouling makes the pasture undesirable to the animals. They end up refusing that pasture. This problem does not arise in zero-grazing. Manure is collected from the stalls and ploughed into the pasture field, this being a better way of applying the manure than when the animals leave it as droppings on the pasture.
Thrown into a mixed pasture field, livestock select some pale palatable pasture species and boycott the less attractive. Thus, while the disliked species persists, the favoured type is found to disappear from the field altogether. In zero-grazing the animals have no choice except to eat what is offered (particularly if some salt has been sprinkled on the forage).
Additionally, because the farmer or attendant is in direct control of the pasture, he decides when to harvest from a given pasture. Animals left on their own, would not know the right stage to eat certain plants and not the others.
Chopping of forage increases the level of feed utilisation. A fodder grass such as napier, the major zero-grazing <-/feedstuff>, is efficiently used when cut as is common in zero grazing.
Through observation and recording, it is possible to practise food rationing. An animal's feed intake is determined and it therefore cannot be offered excess feed to waste.
The effect of temperatures on production is tremendously reduced. Whereas the high temperatures prevalent in open fields lower feed intake, not only does the roof sheltering in zero-grazing encourage normal feeding, it also protects animals from harassment by too much sunshine or rainfall.
Animals are less  exposed to the risks of external and internal parasites. During normal grazing, animals pick up ticks and if the pastures are in marshy areas, worm infestation, especially by liver flukes, becomes an unavoidable occurrence.
Further, the problem of diseases developing to critical stages is not very common here. The explanatory reason is that, signs of ill-health are noticed early, the attendant being closed to the animals most of the time in the day (during morning milking, feeding time and evening milking).If dipping or spraying is done weekly and de-working done after every three months, diseases will rarely attack the animals.
Similar results to the above are obtained in heat-detection. While still a serious headache to farmers who keep many animals out in the fields, the detection of those animals which want to be mated is easy in zero-grazing because of the frequent close interaction of the animal attendant and stock. The calving interval or period between one calving and the succeeding calving is greatly shortened to one year or thereabouts in this case. Success is, however, assured only when the farmer maintains a close eye to the animals such that by the third month, after calving a cow is pregnant.
The system does not make much use of fences. Fencing that in necessary in, for example paddocking in rotational grazing is an expense unknown in zero-grazing.
By the fore-going, it is obvious that his is a desirable method of raising livestock (<-/inparticular> dairy animals). But ideal as the system is, it <-_a> has its limitations.
Deep and comprehensive, understanding of these limitations or setbacks becomes an asset to every farmer who intends to undertake this most intensive and hence complicated method of dairy farming. Well-armed with such fore-knowledge, a new venture can confidently focus the recognised <-/battlenecks>, 
To build a zero-grazing unit for even one animal requires a lot of capital approximately Sh4,000 for a unit using the cheapest materials only and for only one animal.
A complete zero-grazing building for one animal and its calf has the following components:
</I>
W2B040K
<I> <h> A pig farmer who has come a long way </h>
Will they cry? This was the question that Mrs J. Mathenge and some members of her family asked in reference to their young male piglets that were about to be castrated.
This farmer from Thindigua, Kiambu, is new in pig farming, having introduced her first stock into the farm about two years ago. Even for her relative newness into the business and <-/inspite> of not having released any stock into the pig market, she feels that she is not the same novice who entered the business with little experience in pig management. She now knows, understands and appreciates the necessity of various husbandry practices like the castration and iron injection that she ordered for the piglets.
She started by purchasing two female pigs or sows as they are also known. One belongs to the Large White breed while the other is a Landrace these being the chief pig breeds available to the farmer in the country. The two-month-old animals were joined by a male seven months later. The three pigs form her farm's breeding stock.
Her biggest problem, she says, has been the performance of the Landrace pig. It has had a total of ten piglets born dead (stillbirths) for the two times it has farrowed (given birth).
Her biggest problem, she says, has been the performance of the landrace pig. It has had a total of ten piglets born dead (stillbirths) for the two times it has farrowed (given birth). But she is giving the animal another chance to prove its worth.
The other has been a better performer, especially during her last farrowing when she gave birth to eight piglets that have survived the many conditions that endanger piglet life in the first few weeks of their life. Piglets are at risk of death by trampling by a sow with poor mothering ability if all will have been born alive and not as stillbirths, the first way in which piglets are lost to the farmer. Then they have to survive a number of bacterial infections. But before they pass the danger period they might die due to anaemia, a condition of <-/less> iron in their blood.
This was a condition that Mrs Mathenge wanted to protect her three-week-old piglets in addition to having the six males among them castrated.
Inadequate amounts of the mineral in piglets are due to <-/less> of the iron in the mother pig's milk which is the sole source of food for the young ones. The problem is especially common in piglets maintained in concrete floors which, though ideal in sheltering the pigs, does not offer red soil which in other circumstances the young pigs would lick to satisfy their needs. Mrs Mathenge has such a floor and knows well the risk of the anaemia deficiency that the piglets are likely to succumb to.
Affected piglets can die or if they survive refuse to thrive (show very poor growth which is usually slow). A lowered growth rate in piglets between three to six weeks accompanied with a severe breathing problem are two significant symptoms that the piglets may have suffered iron deficiency.
Mrs Mathenge has kept a bottle of iron in the farm as a special security preparation for the new piglets that she gets. But anyway she has not had any anaemia case, even the first litter (those born by the same mother pig at one time) which was later taken by her relatives did not suffer from the problem. But she knows prevention is the cheaper way to deal with a likely problem. So she has made it a rule that all her litters must be given the injection at three weeks of age.
She castrates the male piglets born into the farm. When they have reached that age.
The castrating of any male piglets not required for breeding at three weeks or soon after that is one of the commonest practices of management in pig farms.
One major objective for observing this practice is guard against random mating which has the risk of having piglets born with undesirable qualities as a result of mating between parent pigs of unknown or doubtful traits. Genetically-transmitted diseases are controlled by this measure of rendering some pigs sterile.
The stunted growth that some pig families suffer is also prevented via castration.
But, commonly, castration in pigs (where the breeding boar has been identified or selected already) is aimed at improving the carcass quality and also step up the live body weight of the market animal.
Mrs Mathenge would like to see the castrated piglets together with the females in the litter achieve fast growth rates so that she can market them early now that she has fully joined the commercial pig farming community by having breeding animals. </I><I> <h> Your <ea/>Shamba </h>
<I> <h> Youth find hope in ripe tomatoes </h>
Able-bodied and learned youth always succumb to the lure of town life and desert the rural areas, leaving the elderly, children, and, in most cases female members of their families, to the task of farming. The youth would like to taste town life, the nature of this life notwithstanding.
However, a reversal is taking place in many rural areas. In Nyakoe Location, Kisii District, for example, the youth are flowing back from urban centres.
A steady exodus, a notable migration, has been going on since the early eighties. Young men who have been disappointed by the deceptive glitter of towns. They have become best friends with soil, hoe and agri-pump. Their hopes are <-/crystalised> in the ripe tomato fruit, the biggest money-making crop in the area, second only to tea.
Mr Nyachio Bw'Ogwara is an example. He quit town life, returned to tomato-growing as a way of employment. Unable to further his education beyond Form One for lack of fees, he went to look for a job in Nairobi. Four years of a fruit-less search decided him. He returned to develop his father's <ea/>shamba. That was in 1985.
For him, the end of the road to the city did not mean he would never have a good job. Many young men from his area had already left towns and taken up horticultural farming of tomatoes, vegetables and onions. They were successful. Why could he not try to do what they had done?
There was only one problem: He did not have a pump with which to spray pesticides on the crops. What was he to do? He approached a friend who agreed to <-/occassionally> lend him his pump.
Later, Nyachio and four of his friends contributed money and bought a sprayer. They used it communally. He bought a 29-litre pump for Sh2,100. That was in 1988. He has been using it since.
He grows <ea/>sukumawiki, onions and bananas. He says his main crop and hope is the tomato. For the six years he has been in the tomato-production business, he has been able to provide for himself, besides other things, clothes for the family; kitchen items; household furniture and utensils as well as building two houses which cost him over Sh200,000.
The last gain is common to all tomato-growers, who have put up houses as a reminder of what the crop can do for a grower.
The most widespread variety of the crop is moneymaker, but the young man says: "We hear that a new variety called New Generation has been introduced here. It is said to be more productive but I have not used it myself."
Regardless of the variety one grows in the area pesticides are very much in use as the crop needs to be protected from blight and leaf rust attacks. These two are the conditions that make tomato-growing a risky business.
When cold conditions persist tomato farmers become worried as blight attacks are most common during this period. Pesticide expenses go up drastically. But that is not the only problem Mr Nyachio and his colleagues have to contend with.
"In our place, growing tomatoes sometimes turns out to be a gamble. You can use a lot of money nurturing the crop from the nursery till the last month of harvesting, but in the end fail to recover this money. That is in case hailstones strike," he says. "They will kill the entire crop and there will be nothing to show after all the work and money.
"But at other times it is just that the prices may be too low. People sell crates of tomatoes (the crates used in packing bread) at Sh80. When tomatoes are scarce some people who are lucky can get as much as Sh700 a crate. I have never sold at either price."
In marketing their produce, farmers from the area organise with lorry drivers to deliver the packed <ea/>ebitonga - baskets - to buyers who will then sell the tomatoes and send the proceeds to the tomato-growers a week later.
However, there always arise disagreements over the prices. Usually, the growers quote the price they would like to be paid for each basket, expecting to receive a figure close to that. But those who receive the tomatoes to sell to kiosks, hotels and restaurants claim to have been given low prices, which at times can be as low as half the quoted price. The growers have to accept what they are given.
So what have the growers planned to do about this? Have they agreed to let the situation remain like that? No.
Says Mr Nyachio: "We realised that we have a marketing problem years ago. A group of 16 growers came together and we formed a youth agricultural organisation to safeguard our interests and enable us to exploit even more our crop of hope. Other people who are not tomato growers, but who are progressive, also joined the organisation. Unfortunately, a number of the members were disunited and now the society is almost dead' because there has been little useful activity going on for over a year now."
He says that disunity among the members threatens to bury the group. They had initially thought that they might be able to buy their own transport vehicle but the organisation doesn't seem to have led them any closer to their goal.
What about the low prices in some months?
"This arises because there are so many of us growing the crop. So we flood the market and the price goes down. You will find that if I want to be given Sh150 for <ea/>egetonga, somebody is very ready to take Sh80 for the same. We are just not united. We could benefit a lot but we spoil the market for each other," he says.
There have been suggestions that they agree on which village should grow tomatoes in which month so that tomatoes are not ready for the market all at one time. They haven't discussed that seriously. He thinks that if this idea is put into use then a person like him who grows an average of 3,000 trees annually can expect to earn over Sh20,000 for the two crops grown in a year.
For these young farmers, the short duration of horticultural crops assures them quick money as they have experienced with the tomato but their lack of organisation holds them back in drawing benefits from the now acknowledged fastest-growing sector on agriculture. </I>