{"id":400769,"date":"2011-04-27T01:31:57","date_gmt":"2011-04-27T01:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/27\/seed-projects-sprout-from-rising-demand-for-greens\/"},"modified":"2011-04-27T01:31:57","modified_gmt":"2011-04-27T01:31:57","slug":"seed-projects-sprout-from-rising-demand-for-greens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/seed-projects-sprout-from-rising-demand-for-greens\/","title":{"rendered":"Seed Projects Sprout From Rising Demand for Greens"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Business Daily<\/a> (Nairobi)<\/p>\n

Bob Koigi<\/p>\n

26 April 2011<\/p>\n

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With demand running ahead of supply for super-healthy indigenous vegetables – African nightshade, amaranthus, crotalaria, spider plant jute mallow and African eggplant – projects are under way to draw farmers into seed production to accelerate the production and sales of the greens.<\/p>\n

For the new wave of seed farmers, an ambitious pilot project by the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) funded by Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa, is paying rapid dividends.<\/p>\n

Research shows that indigenous vegetables now account for 30 per cent of all the vegetables marketed in Kenya, with the percentage growing due to their high nutritional value.<\/p>\n

Food experts say indigenous vegetables contribute to micro-nutrient consumption in a way that exotic vegetables do not, estimating that for poorer households, half of pro-vitamin A and one third of iron requirements are met by indigenous vegetables, which also contain non nutrient substances called phytochemicals, which help protect people against non-communicable diseases.<\/p>\n

In an effort to spur production, which had been hampered by limited seed supplies, CABI initially partnered with the Kenya Seed Company to train farmers.<\/p>\n

It trained the farmers in farm management, minimal pesticide use, harvesting, seed extraction and in finding marketing channels for their seeds.<\/p>\n

Farmers also received specific training in seed production, after being supplied with the foundation seeds, which they then produced under the supervision of extension workers.<\/p>\n

The trained farmers recorded a 60 per cent to 70 per cent increase in yields after the training, prompting the move to extend the programme further.<\/p>\n

Farmers in Nyanza and Western provinces had grouped themselves to produce traditional vegetable seed to meet local demand, but poor handling of the seeds meant the output wasn’t impressive, which provided a good entry point for CABI.<\/p>\n

“We found out that farmers were selling the seeds informally to other farmers and once the seeds were planted since they were of low quality, the output would also be disappointing. The passion that the farmers had portrayed in seed production gave us an impetus to helping them produce seeds that met the recommended standards,” said Dr. Daniel Karanja, a scientist with CABI.<\/p>\n

The organisation linked with the Technology Adoption through Research Organisation, a community based organisation that had identified a market for indigenous vegetables, but needed seeds that would produce high-yield, disease-free varieties.<\/p>\n

In collaboration with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (Kephis) and the Arusha-based World Vegetable Centre, which supplied farmers with foundation seed, CABI ran demonstrations across 11 districts in Nyanza and Western Kenya, to train farmers on best practices in seed handling, controlling weeds and pests and packaging.<\/p>\n

The farmers now sell their seeds to the Lagrotech Seed Company, which has been approved to package the seeds for sale. However, they hope to one day package their own seeds.<\/p>\n

The hold-up is “because we first need to know that the seeds produced are not in anyway susceptible to diseases and pests, which is why farmers have to be given the go ahead to be seed suppliers by Kephis,” says Dr Karanja.<\/p>\n

For a farmer to be a seed supplier, officials from Kephis have to test the quality of the foundation seed used to multiply other seeds for farming.<\/p>\n

Kephis then visits the farm to check the land history and ensure that no similar crops had been planted in the past, which raises chances of the new seeds getting diseases.<\/p>\n

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\nSeed Projects Sprout From Rising Demand for Greens<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Business Daily (Nairobi) Bob Koigi 26 April 2011 With demand running ahead of supply for super-healthy indigenous vegetables – African nightshade, amaranthus, crotalaria, spider plant jute mallow and African eggplant – projects are under way to draw farmers into seed production to accelerate the production and sales of the greens. For the new wave of seed farmers, an ambitious pilot project by the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) funded by Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa, is paying rapid dividends. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":400770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-400769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-local-news"},"yoast_head":"\nSeed Projects Sprout From Rising Demand for Greens - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/27\/seed-projects-sprout-from-rising-demand-for-greens\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Seed Projects Sprout From Rising Demand for Greens - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Business Daily (Nairobi) Bob Koigi 26 April 2011 With demand running ahead of supply for super-healthy indigenous vegetables - African nightshade, amaranthus, crotalaria, spider plant jute mallow and African eggplant - projects are under way to draw farmers into seed production to accelerate the production and sales of the greens. 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