Youth group making a killing in silage baling

A pack of white, snowy roll bags shines brightly in the middle of a farm in Buuri, Meru County, attracting a group of passers-by. Near the bags, close to a silage baler, a group of youth work in a well-coordinated manner.

Some load silage into the bags, others wait for the rolled silage to weigh, while others record the weight and arrange the bales under a shade.

The youth are part of a group called SPEN Kenya Ltd, which undertakes agricultural activities for commercial purposes in the larger Meru area.

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The group's chairman, Robert Murage, explains: "We mostly bale silage for farmers at a fee. We are 12 of us. We came together in 2012 after we were trained by the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV), a non-profit international development organisation.”

With the technical know-how obtained from SNV, the group began by training farmers on various dairy aspects, before proceeding to fodder preservation.

With time, demand for their services in various villages rose, which made it necessary for them to acquire more machines.

By the end of 2019, their annual savings as a group enabled them to purchase a Sh1.8 million silage baler.

“With the machine, we can get to a farm, harvest the fodder, shred and ensile within a day. This saves the farmer much costs and time,” Peter Kirethi, a group member, explains.

The efficiency of their machines helps them shred the fodder into sizeable quantities so as not to hamper the process of baling and compacting. During shredding, the shredded fodder is directed into the compressing machine before being packaged into a white nylon paper. It is finally made into huge rolls that weigh between 50 and 60 kilogrammes. 

The ensiling machine ensiles 10 tonnes in eight hours. The group charges each farmer Sh3 for every kilogramme that is ensiled. The group has also leased pieces of land where they plant fodder for sale.

“We normally prefer working with farmers who have a minimum land size of three acres and have their maize at the right stage of growth,” Murage says.

During ensiling, the group prefers conducting the exercise at a period when there are no rains so as to manage the costs.

Getting the period right also ensures the quality of the silage is maintained. Poorly ensiled fodder leads to enormous losses since the nutritional value of the silage is reduced when molds form.

“With baled silage, farmers have a reason to smile even if they have small land parcels. This is because they can access fodder whenever they need it; they don’t have to worry that it will spoil since it is safely packaged and they have easy storage options,” Murage explains.