Horticulture export guru sheds light on the business demands

LISPER NYAKIO interviews agronomist Silas Mutuma who reveals some of the issues farmers need to know about the export market for horticulture crops.

Reporter: Horticultural produce is highly perishable and consumer sensitive. What should be done to curb the packaging problems, transport, and other post-harvest setbacks?

Mutuma: The main control point is temperature (cold chain management) where farmers should have facilities that include a cold store and refrigerated transport trucks for produce to maintain fresh and maintain its quality.

Reporter: Lack of market is a key setback to farmers. What can be done to ensure farmers get the right markets?

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Mutuma: It is well known and documented that food security is a major challenge, we don’t have enough and demand has always outweighed supply. It’s also apparent that the major setback in the market is actually meeting the set international market standards and not market access per-se.

Reporter: Most farmers lack the global gap standards certification. What measures should be taken to ensure compliance?

Mutuma: Farmers should be made aware of the market requirements, which are partly covered in the global gap standards and should be in a position to access an agronomist/farm assurer, who should help them implement the global gap standards.

Reporter: Horticultural farming is labour intensive making farming unbearable to small scale farmers. This coupled with the fact that highly skilled and well-equipped labour and knowledge are required. How should small scale farmers be assisted to cope?

Mutuma: Different crops have different labour requirements and the initial approach is the choice of crops the farmer will be growing taking into consideration the specific climatic conditions of each region. Farmers also need to conduct farming in a place where they can access labour. Farmers should also source training and advice from relevant agricultural institutions.

Reporter: How should farmers be kept informed in the export market trends?

Mutuma: There are different forums held by the government, organizations like Horticultural Crops Directorate (HCD), Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency (KEPROBA), Kenya Plant health inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) that update farmers on the latest development on the markets trends and the farmers should be keen to follow on such. Other stakeholders include Fresh Produce Consortium of Kenya (FPC Kenya)

Reporter: Horticultural farming is capital intensive, how should farmers save on cost and maximize production?

Mutuma: Efficiency at the farm should translate to proper utilisation of funds and farmers should seek professional advice on the management of funds. They should also link up with the financial institutions to assist them to get funds in advance to kick start their agribusiness activity. Proper utilisation of the funds while using the most cost-effective methods of farming is advocated. This includes the use of drip irrigation, to save on the amount of water, add organic matter to the soils and mechanization of the farm to save on labour.

Reporter: Farmers lack independent and innovative advice on horticultural produce backed by in-depth research. What should be done to ensure that quality advice is offered to farmers?

Mutuma: There is a lack of extension and for any advisor to fully satisfy farmers’ needs with quality advice, the advisor must be fully conversant and up to date with the whole production value chain. The advisor should keep tabs with the latest farming technology, the information in regards to new market trends and requirements for quality and relevant info.

Reporter: What training should be offered to ensure farming is done right by having quality standards for the consumers are met?

Mutuma: Farmers should be trained on Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) that include among others; pests and disease control methods, nutrient and soil management, environment conservation, irrigation, post-harvest handling and packing, records keeping.