REACHING OUT TO SMALLHOLDERS
REACHING OUT TO SMALLHOLDERS..... PART 1
Kenya is a country of smallholder farmers, in fact it is estimated that 74% of the population lives in rural areas and relies on farming for their food and income. Smallholders in Kenya, typically will farm less than 2 hectares of land – they will grow a range of crops, some just to feed their family and others to make a living. Often smallholders will club together into co-operatives to increase their chances of selling their harvest. All of them live for their crops.
Here at Kapi Limited, until recently, we have not worked with the smallholder sector. The main market for our natural, organic pyrethrum based pesticides, has been the large commercial farms producing vegetables and flowers largely exported out of the country.
The MAIN REASON these large producers need our pyrethrum based agricultural pesticides, is that European Markets fully understand the harmful nature of many of today’s chemical pesticides – they don’t want them on their food imports and have chosen to legislate to minimize the risks to their populations. Our FLOWER DS 4EC is a BROAD SPECTRUM, 100% ORGANIC, ZERO RESIDUE pesticide that ticks all the boxes. It meets the Maximum Residue Limits imposed by Europe and the ‘big guys’ are lapping it up.
But recently, we got to thinking ….
Kenyans CARE about their food, they CARE about their health, and if they have the option – Kenyans would CHOOSE a NATURAL, ORGANIC alternative – the problem they face is:
HOW can they LEARN about and ACCESS these products, at a price they can AFFORD?
In January this year, we got in touch with KOAN (Kenya Organic Agricultural Network) and together with their help and knowledge, we have put together a plan.
We started by travelling to Matuu, Machakos County and met with a group of farmers who collectively form the MACHAKOS ORGANIC FARMERS COOPERATIVE SOCIETY – this co-operative is supported by KOAN and they grow mangoes, avocadoes, and paw paws amongst other things and had been having problems with a range of pests on their crops. We carried out trials with the farmers – with two of our organic pesticides – namely Flower DS 4EC and FLOWER DUST – and the results were remarkable.
Macdonald Kipyegon elaborates on the trials in this video footage taken live from the trials:
Following the trials – many of the farmers were keen to buy the products – they had seen just how effective they are. Up until this point – we had only supplied direct to large commercial farms, in big quantities. Quantities far greater than a smallholder would need for their small acreage – and therefore at a cost that was beyond them. We needed to take the steps to address this and so our NEW RANGE of SMALLHOLDER FARMER PRODUCTS came to be!
Over the past couple of months, we have worked on re-packaging, re-labelling and re-costing our range of Organic Agricultural Insecticides into smaller sizes – HANDY TO CARRY and EASIER TO AFFORD!
This NEW SMALLHOLDER FARMER RANGE consists of the following products:
FLOWER DS 4EC
100% ORGANIC NATURAL PYRETHRUM INSECTICIDE (Liquid formula 4% pyrethrum) This product has been ECO CERTIFIED for ORGANIC AGRICULTURE. It is BROAD spectrum and works on a very wide range of insects. It has ZERO RESIDUES after 24hrs so is very safe to use and excellent for smallholders wishing to supply the export market.
EXCEL RS ADJUVANT
EXCEL RS is a 100% natural oil based ADJUVANT. manufactured by KAPI LTD and designed to work together with Flower DS 4EC. BY enhancing its efficacy and thereby reducing the required volume of Flower DS 4EC. This benefits the small holder farmer by reducing the cost per acre. As with all OIL BASED formulations, to avoid any scorching, farmers are advised to test the product before widespread application and to read the label carefully to ensure time of application is in accordance with directions.
FLOWER DUST
100% NATURAL PYRETHRUM CONTACT INSECTICIDE SUPPLIED IN POWDER FORM FLOWER DUST is manufactured by KAPI LTD. The active ingredient is Pyrethrum at 0.25%. Flower Dust applied to the soil around the crop. The pyrethrum is absorbed into the soil and kills all insects (including pupae) in or on the surface of the soil.
FLOWER DS 4EC
100% ORGANIC INSECTICIDAL SPRAY FOR VETABLES AND FRUITS. BIO BOOST is manufactured by KAPI LTD. Best applied liberally on the plants using a knapsack or trigger sprayer.
The NEXT CHALLENGE is REACHING THE FARMERS….
This is what we are working on right now! The products are ready. Now we want to TEACH farmers about them, put in place a system for them to be able to place orders, and make sure that the products can be delivered to somewhere they can collect them.
Once again – KOAN (Kenya Organic Agricultural Network) has come to our aid and have been instrumental in helping us put together a PILOT project. KOAN’s and the farmers’ enthusiasm for this project has been fantastic.
Meet SYLVIA from KOAN by watching our YouTube interview:
At the end of this month – APRIL 2022 – we will be travelling back to Machakos county. Working with KOAN and the farmers of the MACHAKOS ORGANIC FARMERS COOPERATIVE SOCIETY, KAPI will be delivering two informative FARMER’S TRAINING DAYS, to teach the farmers about the benefits of using pyrethrum and what our products can do for them.
We will keep you posted on how this goes, in PART 2 of this blog (this, we will send out as soon as we have done the forums)!
We are excited! It is fantastic to be working with such great people, and to know that finally – farmers will be able to choose – NATURAL, ORGANIC, ZERO RESIDUE pesticides, made by a LOCAL KENYAN MANUFACTURER, from a LOCAL KENYAN CROP. PYRETHRUM is where it is at!
