Step up farm machinery to earn more money, farmers told

Captain FarmTech sales manager Kanyi Thairu at the farm machinery exhibition in Bologna, Italy. [Gathenya Njaramba, Standard]

"Additionally, farmers and agribusiness investors should be willing to pay higher costs for quality farm machinery. They have to look at, for instance, the price of a tractor that has ten years guarantee and another one that offers 30 or even 50-year assurance," he added.

Captain FarmTech sales manager Kanyi Thairu, who was also at the farm machinery exhibition in Bologna, Italy, said the unwillingness of the youth to work as farmhands will also force farmers to mechanise their operations.

"The drudgery associated with manual work is unsustainable and unproductive. Some Mt Kenya counties are already suffering labour shortages as the young people shun manual work," he told The Saturday Standard.

Mr Thairu advised large-scale tea farms to invest in labour-saving technologies to improve productivity while reducing costs. "If we do not invest in technology, we won't compete in the international market with major food-producing nations in Asia and South America," he added.

He noted that Kenyan farms had become smaller over the years, but that is not an excuse to shun mechanization. "Manual labour is expensive in the long term. Smallholder farmers can, for example, form groups or Saccos and buy small tractors to use on their farms," he added.

Captain Agri Machinery Exim LLP Managing Partner Sunish Shah said Africa is a ripe market for farm machinery. "It is time African farmers took up farm machinery to solve food production challenges. The continent has the potential to become the food basket of the world, but only if farmers mechanise their operations," he said.

He said small tractors can be used optimally through the crop cycle to reap maximum profits for large or small farmers.