Eldoret Show: New techs offer glimpse into future of agriculture

Animal feeds, water scarcity, and expensive human labour are among many problems that leave many farmers scratching their heads for solutions.

This is despite advancements in solutions to agricultural production in recent years.

But where do farmers experience and get knowledge on these new products and solutions? Someone has to showcase them. The Eldoret Agricultural Society of Kenya (ASK) Show became the epicenter of exhibitions of the latest solutions to the most common challenges on the farm in the past week, with local farmers taking notes.

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Technical students exhibited show-stopping innovations designed to help farmers earn more profits.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) was also a focal point in the innovations showcased by the youth. Farmers can run their dairy farms without being physically present with their innovative technologies.

For instance, Becky Sitati and Pascal Wabwoba’s AI dairy feeding system stole the show. They are both Electrical Engineering students at Eldoret National Polytechnic. 

The duo unveiled a machine that uses a sensor and camera to release the right measure of food to dairy cows, assess the animals’ wellbeing and report all this information to the farmer, who monitors the livestock remotely ON their mobile phone. With ease, Sitati demonstrates how an electronic tag is placed on a cow. “It reduces the cost of labour by over 50 per cent,” says the innovator.

The tag, she says, has all details of the cow, including its weight, amount of food it consumes daily, and its physical condition.

The electrical engineering student says the sensors send information to the machine, which, in turn, releases the food while taking the cow’s body temperature as the camera checks physical conditions, with the information relayed to the farmer in real-time.

“It enables you to monitor the cow feeding. You can learn about physical changes such as sickness of the cow. You can monitor farms while away through your phone. The sensor measures the temperature of the cow and scans a tag attached to the cow, and it measures the quantity of the feed. It only feeds a cow that is registered and tagged,” she explains. Wabwoba says the revolutionary AI machine releases the food three times a day at a sequence of four hours, reducing wastage.

“We use a solar-powered battery, which enables a farmer to use it seamlessly in remote areas,” he says.

Wabwoba says the current dairy machines in the market are conveyor belts and modification is necessary.

“The old technologies can’t measure food and replace human labour; our innovation does. It took us two weeks to assemble the materials. We spent six months doing research,” he added.

“It cost us Sh4,500, with the materials locally available. We are already doing tests at the Eldoret National Polytechnic farm and it’s working effectively. The results are good. We are rolling out production in April.”

Smart Aquaponics, which uses water from fish ponds for irrigation, was also among innovations being showcased in at the annual event.

Denis Gatuma, a diploma student in General Agriculture, said it would solve the problem of water shortage.

“We are using water from the water bond to do irrigation. From the fish bond, the water is pumped to a settling tank where particles are filtered. When the water is returning to the fish pond, plants in tins absorb the nutrients and still help in the filtration of the water. It’s oxygenated in the system by plants before going back to the fish bond,” Gatuma said.

Naomi Muiruri said the innovation is ideal for garden farmers living in towns.

Eldoret National Polytechnic trainers Humphrey Oyugi and Danol Rotich have trained their sights on solving water scarcity, climate change and labour problems on farms.

From Nyeri, Githaiga Kihara made Trichanthera fodder shrub, a popular animal feed, especially for goat farmers.

Billed as a natural dewormer in livestock and touted as a nutritious fodder for lactating animals such as dairy goats, Trichanthera attracted attention.

Kihara of Moo Fodder supermarket in Nyeri says he imported the fodder shrub from the Philippines.

“It was imported from the Philippines but the shrub is native to Colombia,” Kihara tells farmers.

He further explains: “It has high crude proteins between 22 to 28 percent. It’s also ideal for preventing soil erosion because of its rapacious rooting system.”

The leaves, he says, are fodder - consumed in different quantities based on the type of livestock and breed.

Although he has grown it in Nyeri for barely three years, Kihara says it has been found to increase milk production by up to 40 percent.

“It is two years old in Kenya and the first cuttings were sold last year. After planting, it is ready for harvesting in eight months. You can do a plantation or as a hedge around your farm. It can grow up to 15 metres in height, which means it can produce enough leaves for fodder,” says Kihara.

From his three acres in Nyeri, Kihara supplied 100,000 seedlings in the last one year.

He learnt the idea from a university lecturer from the Philippines and he was elated when it thrived in Kenya.

He also showcased Australian Red Napier grass, another new feed with 20 percent crude protein.

Lesere farm also delighted farmers with a special goat meal.

The Lesere goat meal allows farmers to grow goats for chevon by combining browsing with the pellet or floured mixture of nutritional feed.

Shadrack Koech and Shalom Matelong say the farm blended oats, sunflower, cotton cake, wheat bran, maize jam, salt (vital kondoo), and both white and black calcium for strong bones to produce the goat meat.

Koech says from sunflower, soya and cotton, among other ingredients in the goat meal, goats get their proteins and grow faster.

The salt, he says, gives the goat vitamins, while wheat bran becomes the source of carbohydrates.

“The goats can browse in the morning and then they take goat meal in mid-morning or vice versa, depending on how the farmer decides. With goat meal, the goats grow healthier and gain more weight, and at the end of the day, the farmer earns more,” he says.

“Goats that only depend on browsing often end up not getting all the requisite nutrients. At times, they end up eating clothes and papers to try to get some of the missing nutrients. This is what pushed us to produce goat meal.”

Lesere’s dairy goat meal was another centre of attraction.

They offered hope to farmers who are joining the goat milk production business.

Koech says the nutrient ratios in dairy goat meal are automated by a computer system that ensures that goats get the right measures. “Dairy goat meal is crucial in improving skin health. The ratio is computerised, which ensures that the balancing is right, and the meal is free from aflatoxin and iron.

“We use equipment to test the level of metals and aflatoxin poison. It supplements grazing and goats will grow faster and healthier,” he says.

A push to solve fodder problems inspired Samuel Mwangi’s pulp machine.

It was first used to pulp fodder in 2021 but traditional machines were still dominant.

“You can pulp both wet and dry feed such as napier.. You can adjust the pulp to the texture of your choice, and you have the option of using electricity or solar power,” says Mwangi.

He says the new machine pulps up to 3.5 tonnes in one hour, making it ideal for large-scale dairy farms.

He says they come with electric-powered systems but can be modified to run using solar power.

Alongside the fodder pulping machine is a pelletizing innovation that can produce an average of 150kgs of pellets an hour. “The pelletising machine helps a farmer to store fodder in the form of pellets. These days, fodder shortages are common and yet pellets can be stored over three years and help the farmer have animal feed during times of acute shortage,” Mwangi said.

He added: “We are value-adding fodder to minimise the shortage of feed. You leave the grass to dry before the rollers turn them to pellets.”