Massey Ferguson launches Kenya ‘people’s tractor’

Bimini1002015-08-02T17:04:39-05:00

AGCO brand Massey Ferguson has announced the launch of a new tractor for the Kenyan market The MF 35, with its 36 horse power (hp) engine, 6-forward/2-reverse speed mechanical gearbox and hard-wearing robust construction, will bring farm mechanisation within the reach of many agricultural enterprises for the first time, the company said. “Straightforward, dependable and affordable, the 36 hp MF 35 is truly the ‘people’s tractor’,” said Richard Markwell, vice president and managing director of Massey Ferguson for Europe/Africa/Middle East. [...]

August 19, 2015 Uncategorized Comments OffRead more...

FAO, Rabobank Foundation to scale up East Africa partnership

Bimini1002015-08-02T17:01:30-05:00

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Dutch Rabobank Foundation will expand their collaboration after two years of successful initiatives in three countries in East Africa. In 2013, FAO and Rabobank Foundation began a partnership by collaborating on projects in Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya focused on boosting food security through rural agricultural development. All three projects were aimed at improving smallholder farmers’ incomes, their access to financial tools and ability to invest in more efficient production of food crops. The project [...]

August 17, 2015 Uncategorized Comments OffRead more...

Zimbabwe to source fertilizers from Belarus

Bimini1002015-08-13T10:58:05-05:00

Zimbabwe’s government has taken steps to source fertilizers from Belarus to ensure their sufficient availability in time for the upcoming cropping season Fertilizer Application - International Institute of Tropical Agriculture - FlickrOfficials are conducting soil analysis to determine the most suitable fertilizer for Zimbabwe. The South African nation has chosen Belaruskali, a Belarus-based fertilizer manufacturer, to supply it with the key farming input. The deal will be financed as a part of a larger US$150mn memorandum of understanding (MoU) that was signed [...]

August 12, 2015 Uncategorized Comments OffRead more...

Fanisi Capital invests US$6mn in Tanzanian agribusiness

Bimini1002015-08-02T16:54:39-05:00

Private equity firm Fanisi Capital has announced that it had bought a minority stake in a Tanzanian agro-processing company for US$6mn, expanding its footprint in the region Maize Mill - Gabriel Gonzalez - Wikimedia CommonsThe investment is Fanisi Capital's first transaction in Tanzania. (Image source: Gabriel Gonzalez/Wikimedia Commons) The Kenya-based firm is focussed on East Africa’s fast-growing economies. Its announcement said it had acquired a significant minority stake in Kijenge Animal Products Limited (Kijenge), a mid-sized maize flour milling, animal feed [...]

August 10, 2015 Uncategorized Comments OffRead more...

Deutz-Fahr unveils new C6000 harvester series

Bimini1002015-08-02T16:51:57-05:00

Agriculture equipment manufacturer Deutz-Fahr has announced the launch of a new combine harvester range Deutz-Fahr unveil new C6000 harvester series The C6000 Series has optional cutting header extensions for rapeseed and sunflowers. (Image source: Deutz-Fahr) Following the release of the C9000 Series in 2013 and the C7000 Series in 2014, the company unveiled the new C6000 Series earlier this month. The new machines are powered by 230hp DEUTZ TCD L6 T4F 6.1 L engines, which, as Tier 4-compliant, Deutz-Fahr called “the most [...]

August 5, 2015 Uncategorized Comments OffRead more...

Irrigation project to come up in Rwandan province

Bimini1002015-08-02T16:49:52-05:00

The government of Rwanda and Howard G Buffett Foundation have signed a US$24mn partnership deal to fund the development of irrigation infrastructure in Kirehe district in the country’s Eastern Province. The project is set to start next week over 1,280 ha of land in the Nosha sector of Kirehe district. The area is drought-prone and therefore makes for an ideal site for the project that will provide water for irrigation to farmers. Dr. Geraldine Mukeshimana, the minister for agriculture and [...]

August 3, 2015 Uncategorized Comments OffRead more...

Organic company turns trash into farm treasure

Bimini1002015-08-06T11:15:40-05:00

An organic fertilizer making company is seeking to correct the acidic state of Kenyan soils by composting waste from livestock, vegetables and water hyacinth from Nairobi dam. Pastoralists, known to keep large herds of livestock, struggle to manage and dispose the waste. After a day of grazing the livestock have to be taken to a designated area to spend the night. It is this area where the waste accumulates. With one pastoralist owning up to 3,000 goats and tens of [...]

July 29, 2015 Uncategorized Comments OffRead more...

Soiless Seeding – New technology

Bimini1002015-06-28T15:39:17-05:00

A company in Kenya is pioneering the planting of seeds without using soil by using an organic planting medium made from coconut husk, ridding the seeds off diseases, ensuring transplanting is done with all roots intact and guaranteeing a 90 per cent germination rate. Traditionally, farmers have relied on soil to grow seeds, which they then either transplant to nurseries or other desired area as seedlings.  But with the increase in diseases, farmers are not enjoying the germination rate they [...]

July 27, 2015 Uncategorized Comments OffRead more...

Nigeria: Study Shows 70 Percent of Nigerians Now Into Agriculture

Bimini1002015-07-24T09:50:10-05:00

By Oyediran Apata Lagos — About 70 per cent of Nigerians representing 7 in 10 people are now working in Agricultural sector. The Chairman Candel Company Limited, Mr. Charles Anudu stated this in Lagos during the week at the commissioning of the first ever Nigeria Agrochemicals Manufacturing plant located at Lekki Free Zone. According to Anudu, there was need for the administration to embrace agriculture in addressing the vacuum created by focusing on mono-income on for external reserve. He expressed optimism that many [...]

July 20, 2015 Uncategorized Comments OffRead more...

Half of rural India still doesn’t own agricultural land: SECC 2011

Bimini1002015-07-16T10:07:21-05:00

The Socio-Economic and Caste Census 2011, the first since 1934, identifies landlessness as a major source of rural deprivation, and finds that a majority of rural households depend on manual labour for income. 56 per cent of rural households own no agricultural land, with Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and West Bengal having more than 72 per cent landless. About 51 per cent of rural India depends on manual labour, including farmwork, for income, and over a third are [...]

July 16, 2015 Uncategorized Comments OffRead more...