Village Industrial Power offering innovative clean energy for rural farmers.

Village Industrial Power offering innovative clean energy for rural farmers.Rural farmers can increase the value of their crops ten-fold by using a new technology – Village industrial mobile power plant. The technology which was introduced in Kenya in 2016 uses agricultural waste as fuel; it has 10 Kw engine which creates thermal, electrical and mechanical energy to transform crops into high value products. VIP’s pilot power plants are currently on trial in East Africa. The plant enables farmers shell 1 ton of maize in 2 hours for Ksh. 150 per bag. It thus reduces the chances of aflatoxin infection and improves the quality of maize. It also reduces unpredictable cost of manual labor used to dry maize in the sun. “VIP’s mobile power plant unit is robust, reliable, and on demand, enabling farmers to process their own crops and participate directly in the value chain, VIP’s carbon neutral engine is fuel flexible, using waste such as maize cobs, coffee parchment, mango pits, and bagasse to supply thermal, electric, and mechanical power” says Maggie Flanagan, the company’s Vice President for Business Development.

Plastic mulching technology for enhanced yields.

Plastic mulching technology for enhanced yields. Farmers in drought stricken areas or with little rainfall are advised to adopt plastic mulching technology which is the practice of covering soil with polythene to make more favorable conditions for plant growth, development and efficient crop production. Small-holder farmers can cut costs of irrigation and mechanization by adopting plastic mulching technology. Ministry of Agriculture Extension officer Samuel Mburu says just like traditional organic mulch, which controls weeds and retained moisture content in soils, this method boosts harvests while reducing labor required in production process.

New tomato variety resists leaf curl virus and wilting.

New tomato variety resists leaf curl virus and wilting. In dealing with losses caused by leaf curl and other deadly wilts in tomatoes, a seed company has come up with a tomato hybrid that is least affected by the diseases. TM 20 F1 is hybrid that has been developed to help farmers escape the losses to the above diseases, which are hard to control with chemicals. The variety from Mahindra Seed, which is being marketed in Kenya by Gromost Seeds, has helped farmers in South Africa, India, among other countries in boosting production even with the threat of the ailments. TM 20 F1 gives up to 30 tonnes of fruit per acre under god cop husbandry practices such as trimming, staking, weeding, among others. It is harvested for six months before yields start dwindling. The oval fruits have a firm coat that makes them have a long shelf life to allow for a lengthy selling period in case the market is poor. A firm coat is also important in transportation.

STAR 9065 F1 is the new money maker tomato.

STAR 9065 F1 is the new money maker tomato.Tomato farmers keen to make money within a short period of time with tomato farming should consider STAR 9065 F1 tomato variety which has very high quality characteristics attractive to customers and more marketable than any other varieties according to Samuel Gacheru, a Sales Agronomist- Starke Ayres Company. “Under proper agronomical practices STAR 9065 F1 produce a medium maturity fruits with uniform size and perfect shape. It has thick, fleshy succulent pericarp and a wall of moderate thickness giving it a longer shelf life,” said Gacheru. STAR 9065 F1 matures in 75-80 days after transplanting and as harvesting date varies by as much as ten days between late and early season plantings planning planting schedules should be considered. Mature fruits are blocky, cylindrical fruit with an average mass of 130-160g.

Grafting watermelon provide protection against soil-borne diseases increasing yields.

Grafting watermelon provide protection against soil-borne diseases increasing yields. Most farmers are beginning to understand that grafting crops especially at the rootstock brings extra qualities that the plant do not possess. This technique is now applied to a wide range varieties of watermelon to help in avoiding the risks of contracting root diseases like Fusarium thus increase yields. Starke Ayres Company which deals in horticulture crops seeds and products has a range of watermelon hybrids that can be grafted and are all suitable for growth in most regions in Kenya. The varieties have potential to produce high quality watermelon fruit of different types to suit different markets and customers. This is according to Samuel Gacheru Starke Ayres Company’s Sales Agronomist-Nairobi. “Grafting watermelon at rootstocks has now become a practice in many of the major watermelon production regions of the world. The primary reason for grafting of vine crops like watermelon is to provide protection against soil-borne diseases,” said Gacheru during this year’s Nairobi International Trade Fair.

H7N9 influenza is both lethal and transmissible in animal model for flu.

H7N9 influenza is both lethal and transmissible in animal model for flu. In 2013, an influenza virus began circulating among poultry in China. It caused several waves of human infection and as of late July 2017, nearly 1,600 people had tested positive for avian H7N9. Nearly 40 percent of those infected had died. In 2017, a medical researcher received a sample of H7N9 virus isolated from a patient in China who had died of the flu. He and his research team subsequently began work to characterize and understand it. In early 2017, Yoshihiro Kawaoka, professor of pathobiological sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, received a sample of H7N9 virus isolated from a patient in China who had died of the flu. He and his research team subsequently began work to characterize and understand . For the first time, Kawaoka says, his team has identified an influenza virus strain that is both transmissible between ferrets (the best animal model proxy for human influenza infections) and lethal, both in the animal originally infected and in otherwise healthy ferrets in close contact with these infected animals.

On-and-off fasting helps fight obesity, study finds.

On-and-off fasting helps fight obesity, study finds.Researchers investigate why periods of sporadic fasting can be beneficial for the metabolism. Up to sixteen weeks of intermittent fasting without otherwise having to count calories helps fight obesity and other metabolic disorders. Such fasting already shows benefits after only six weeks. This is according to a study by Kyoung-Han Kim and Yun Hye Kim in the journal Cell Research which is published by Springer Nature. Intermittent fasting in mice helped to kick-start the animals' metabolism and to burn fat by generating body heat. The research team was led by Hoon-Ki Sung of The Hospital for Sick Children in Ontario, Canada. Research has shown that our unhealthy eating habits and sedentary lifestyles are playing a major role in the development of lifestyle-related metabolic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity. For this reason, dietary interventions like intermittent fasting are gaining popularity to treat conditions such as obesity.