Generating cooking gas and electricity from cow waste.

The Video tells the story.....

Wonder Plant Replacing Synthentic Fertilizer.

Tithonia (Asteraceae)

The lush green plants in the midst of high-rise residential houses in Githurai, Nairobi makes the farm stand out.

Bananas, paw paws and indigenous vegetables that include spider plant compete for space on the about half-acre farm.

Let's make our own fire!

Many rural areas where farming is the main stay and their cooking is done with firewood and this is gotten by cutting down trees, As the years roll by, the further they have to go to fetch it. Most of this rural dwellers are farmers who generate from their harvest such as rice husk, groundnut husk etc.

Local refrigeration

 l did bump into this when l visited Eco-Resource centre in Nairobi, Kenya. l got fascinated by the simplicity and its functionality. The simple piece of innovation so ideal for the preservation of vegetables and fruits in areas especially rural where there is no access to electricity.

From simple bamboo.......

Through my time in different rural settings, l know bamboo is regularly used as uprights in the farm, fencing animal sheds and for those in the building construction industry use it as scaffolds.

A Kenyan friend who is the project manager of Kenyan bamboo centre was benevolent to send me images of what they are achieving from the same bamboo many do not place premium on.

Growing Mushroom

The young man in the video who showed the reporter his mushroom farm (mud house) where he grows his mushrooms (the button variety) in bags and on shelves.. A room contains 1000bags which produces 2000kgs every 11 weeks. And a kilo of mushroom sells for 600shillings ($7), so when he harvests and package the 2000kg, he gets $14,000! and  the production cost is about $1,750!

        

Hydroponics - Soiless farming.

Making baby diapers and sanitary pads from farm waste

 

From left, Martin Murigi, Moses Mathenyu and Edwin Madivoli.

From the regular rice straw, papyrus reeds, banana stalks and the water hyacinth that have constituted a menace to both fishermen and water transport operators  alike has turn to resources that creates wealth!

Watermelon Farming

Where the Kenyan shilling is mentioned just multiply it by 2 to get the Naira equivalent e.g 100Ksh = N200.

 Email: koboideas@gmail.com

Harvesting Rabbit Urine For Fertilizer.

I did an earlier post on making an income from rabbit's urine and did promised to get a video of it, luckily it was aired few days ago on TV and so here it is for your viewing,hope it inspires you! Lest l forget whenever you hear or read where the Kenyan shilling is mentioned just multiply it by 2 to get the Naira equivalent e.g 100Ksh = N200.  100ksh = $1.12


Email: koboideas@gmail.com

Pumping water for irrigation and other uses using a motorcycle.

 Here is a new invention by a Kenyan innovator, to help farmers pump water from shallow wells to beyond 1km for irrigation using a bodaboda (okada).

Motorcycles have proven to be a reliable form of transport, especially in the rural areas, but now there is another reason why every farmer should invest in one — it can be used to pump water!

Lawyer who turns banana into flour.

Entrepreneur Eric Muthomi of Stawi Foods.

As a child, Eric Muthomi’s parents would take the entire family to their upcountry home in Meru during school holidays.This is a strategy employed by many Nairobi parents to date. It is meant to show their children the other side of life — no cars, tilling land and walking bare foot.

But as a young adult, Mr Muthomi, now 27, noticed something that would see him make it into the Forbes’ 2013 list of 30 Under 30: Africa’s Best Young Entrepreneurs and featured on CNN as the owner of the few upcoming African businesses.

From Computers to Greenhouse.

Food Africa Enterprise Limited director John Maingi (left) in his farm in Kahawa Sukari, Nairobi with a friend Bob Martin

When  meeting  John Maingi, he is ecstatic. He had earlier spoken to a high-profile client he had been introduced to and there were prospects he was going to offer him a job.

The client was a former government official who owns 10 acres in western Kenya. He was consulting Maingi on the best crop to plant this season.

And he had another sweet deal for him. He wanted Maingi to manage the farm. Maingi arranged to visit the farm in a week’s time for a survey before he could advise him on the way forward.

Pomato - growing potato and tomato from one stem!

 

 

After losing his job as a matatu (bus) conductor in Kiambu town due to overindulging in alcohol, Wangoto became a petty thief to survive. “I was caught red-handed inside a chicken coop in the middle of the night holding two large birds. How could I even deny that I was stealing them?” he asks.

In November 2011, he was sentenced to one year at the Kiambu GK Prison. The Gachie resident says that this was a blessing in disguise since his prison experience equipped him with new farming skills.

From N30,000 per month, to N20,000 every day!

Susan Chesyna in her tomato farm in Nakuru

An inspiring story of a Kenyan lady who was a teacher on a monthly salary of N30,000 but veered into farming  and earns about N20,000 daily

I became a farmer seven years ago after I relocated from Baringo to Nakuru County and settled at Kiamunyi, in Rongai.

When I arrived in the county, where I had earlier bought land, I could not stop marveling at its beauty. The land was fertile and the crops were growing well unlike in Baringo, where erratic rains and drought were regular.

Mushrooom growing made simple and easy

                               Farmer Paul Kisiangani with mushroom at his farm.


Mushrooms are consumed by humans for their nutritional value and  its cultivation is steadily gaining a foothold in many communities where the crop is considered to be a delicacy.

Gone are the days when people would wait for the crop that has medicinal value to grow in bushes or hillsides and then go to harvest.

Reaping twice from selling Rabbit urine!

What we naturally dispose off because we consider them as waste could as well be the next money spinner! Just as kenyan’s rabbit farmer Peter Maina has found out and earning good from selling the urine of his rabbits, YES, THE URINE OF RABBITS!

Pouring a brown liquid into a 20 litre container slowly to avoid spilling it.

It takes him about five minutes to fill the container with the liquid that looks like dirty water. “Now I have 200 litres, I have five more 20 litre containers to fill,” says Maina with a sigh of relief.

He is a rabbit farmer in Kariobangi, Nairobi. He not only rears rabbits for sale but he harvests their urine. Though he went into rabbit farming so that he can sell them as they fetch good money. But mid into the venture, he discovered that he can make more money from selling rabbit urine, which is used to make organic fertilizer. He owns over 60 rabbits comprising of California White and New Zealand breeds.

Growing Strawberries in bags!

Michael Njau with strawberries he grows in polythene bags in his farm

Michael Njau with strawberries he grows in polythene bags in his farm

Michael Njau calls himself an experimental farmer. The 26-year-old does not follow what others consider the normal way of growing crops. The strawberry farmer grows the fruits in polythene bags in what he says started as an experiment, which has paid off.

Rabbit farming

Get Inspired!

Cooking with the Flexi Biogas

Bio-digesters generating gas

Once the Flexi Biogas system is installed, fresh dung mixed with water to a smooth consistency is added into the orange pipe in the foreground. Once in the bag, it begins to ferment and move slowly across the digester till it is “exhausted”. Gas that is formed presses down on the slurry and pushes the exhausted dung out of the orange pipe in the background. If the gas pressure rises because not enough gas is being used, it will simply push more dung out the other end.