Agency topnews

Baby ahead: check out the insurance limit!

Friday, 27 April 2012 14:05

Mothers covered by maternity insurance are often getting caught flatfooted when their spending on ante-natal care and delivery overshoots the maximum maternity allowances built into their policies.

Farmers get help buying silos to save maize from pests

A new funding scheme is helping farmers buy metal silos to store grain in a way that is protected from attack by weevils and other pests, and is also halving the incidence of aflatoxins.In Kenya, and particularly Eastern Kenya, weevils have been singled out as a major cause of post harvest grain losses. Poor storage facilities and substandard storage pesticides have aggravated the attack and losses. Read more......

Rice farmers cut costs and seed loss with plastic drum planting

A visit by a Kenyan rice farmer to a Bangladeshi village has changed the lives of fellow rice farmers in Mwea constituency of Central Kenya who have now adopted a low-cost technology for sowing rice seeds that has cut costs by up to 60 per cent and reduced seed wastage by 90 per cent.

Camels rise as Kenya’s livestock industry of the future

Drought is changing the face of Kenya’s livestock industry, as farmers turn away from keeping cattle and build up their camel herds as demand moves from beef to camel meat, further driven by its power in relieving the widespread conditions of diabetes and tuberculosis.

Two million tea trees earn top dollars for Mount Kenya farmers

More than 500 farmers on the slopes of Mount Kenya are benefitting from the global rise of the $3bn organic essential oil industry, with a $1.8bn project that is seeing individual farmers earn over Sh110,000 a year from tea-tree production.