Category: Feature Articles (Sept – Oct 2015)

I clearly remember the advice given to me when I was toying with the idea of becoming a scribe. “Don’t take up journalism as your career if your sole aim of life is to make money. In scribing you only earn a name but not money,” my mentor told me. He Quoted Somerset Maughan and said, “Money is the sixth sense without which we cannot enjoy the other five to the full! Even allowing for the sort of ostentatious life, anything in excess is just adding zeros to one’s bank balance and gloating over bloated bank statements every month.

And not him alone but even the country’s education system took me far from scribing. And the gods of the highest education ensured I land into UON ( University of Nowhere) to format me into a tax collector. My own father supported them and cursed the gods’ of scribes quoting Jesus, he said. “Woe unto you scribes……………

After a year of locking myself in a room to cook figures, I sneaked into one of the late Wahome Mutahi’s (My Mentor) comedy shows and our worlds met again and this time he ensured I turned into a scribe.

‘IFTF World of Flowers’: a unique threeday event for florists will take place under that name at the IFTF floriculture trade fair in The Netherlands

A Day at Plantas Continental Trial House in Timau At the begining of July, we headed to the scenic countryside of Timau, an area on

Rising cost of farm inputs in the country has seen some leading flower farms in the country rethink other innovative ways of cutting chemical based fertilizers cost in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way.

A leading rose grower in Kenya, has embraced a relatively new but simple system to operate composting technology known as Vermicomposting. This refers to the production of plant nutrient rich excreta of earthworms and decomposed matter.

Earthworms play a vital role in plant growth and it is quite possible to effect quick change over for sustainable agriculture by harnessing the brand new vermicompost technology to the soil. This vermicompost have enzymes, secretions of earthworms which stimulate growth and yield of crops and even develop resistance in crops receiving this spray. Also known as vermiwash, worm compost, vermicast, worm castings, worm humus or worm manure, vermicompost is similar to plain compost, except that it uses worms in addition to microbes and bacteria to turn organic waste into a nutrient-rich fertilizer.

Most growers show a lot of enthusiasm when choosing cartons, sleeves or even refrigerated containers. However, little attention is generally given when choosing SFK, yet they are the first line of protection for the flowers. This has resulted in growers losing many stems which should have turned into revenue. This was revealed by research carried out recently by this periodical.

In Kenya, there is a wide range of SFK available to growers and exporters from different suppliers. However, the reasons for selecting a specific type of SFK is not always clear. Pack rates and cost efficiency seem to be prevailing motives according to our research. The outcome, however, is not always what would be best for the flowers.

The warm months of the year starting this September are reckoning. Rose growers across the country are already arming themselves to combat the almost imminent

Aviv Levi is the Managing Director, Amiran Kenya Ltd, the leading agricultural solution provider in Kenya that has played a role in positioning its clients as major suppliers of floriculture and horticultural produce in the local market, Europe and the rest of the world. The company has done this by ensuring that farmers in Kenya have access to world class innovations ranging from chemicals, fertilizers, seeds, modern irrigation systems, high quality greenhouse models, plastics and covers in addition to services such as training and agro-support.

Since his arrival to Amiran, Aviv and his team have worked tirelessly to better position the company as the market leader in almost all agricultural crop sectors , as well as leading in the introduction of new innovations and services all geared towards uplifting its clientele.

Small-scale flower farming in the country was not given much emphasis in the past but this is changing gradually as farmers from various parts of

Environmental Awareness Programme Targeting School Children An environmental awareness and cleanup project, targeting school children and communities living around Lake Naivasha, has been launched courtesy