@IFAD funded project that seeks to strengthen sorghum & millet value chains for food, nutritional & income security in arid and semi-arid lands of Kenya and TZ.
Benson Kyalo a fish farmer uses #sorghum grain as the raw material for making fish feed for the Catfish and Tilapia that he rears on his farm in Makueni County. He believes using sorghum improves profit margins due to lower feed production costs.
Where markets exists, technology uptake is high. Strong links to markets for rural producers creates a vicious circle by boosting productivity, increasing incomes and strengthening food security (IFAD: 2013).
Nutritional quality of food is a key element in maintaining human overall physical well-being because nutritional well-being is a sustainable force for health and development and maximization of human genetic potential.
#UPDATE The project has purchased eleven portable threshers to be used for enhancing the quality of grain reaching markets. They can thresh & clean 4 to 7 bags of grain per hour. The threshers are made with three different sieves to make it possible to thresh #sorghum and #millet
#UPDATE Most of the #Sorghum and #Millet trial plots in the project counties have done tremendously well since planting. The farmers are now in the process of thinning and weeding.
#Climate-smart agriculture practices can be solution for rural households in semi-arid regions highly vulnerable to adverse impacts of climate variability and change – highlights of @ICARindia AERA conference https://t.co/PoB3kNbAOl #R4D#agriculture#ClimateChange#ICRISAT_News
#DYK Close to one billion people worldwide are undernourished, while many more suffer from deficiencies in specific nutrients, such as essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals – mostly as a result of meager and low-quality diets. @ICRISAT@IFAD@FAO@USAID
.@ICRISAT sweet #sorghum could deliver significant boost to #India’s nutritional & industrial needs in one fell swoop, and might even set an eg for Aust farmers @dfat @ausindiacouncil @mikesfoley @JoannaKP@ACIARAustralia@AusHCIndia
https://t.co/F45kaskQ9p
Over 6000 small holder farmers have been linked to buyers by the #AVCD program in the six mandate counties. The project has been working with aggregators in Kenya and has established a total of 38 aggregation centers
#DYK Striga is a parasitic weed that constrains the growth of cereals in the sub humid areas of Africa. The weed can be managed by hand pulling, weeding on time, inter-cropping with legumes like groundnuts, use of herbicide 2-4 D,field sanitation and deep ploughing.
#Busia Farmer groups in Bunyala have taken up adding value to #sorghum and #millet to earn extra income. #SOMNI project supports these farmers by providing them with charcoal ovens and basic training on value addition.