Climate Smart Agriculture In Kenya

Climate smart agriculture in Kenya in Kenya is about building climate change adaptation and resilince among the farmers; particularly smallholder farmers. The company’s slogan is Climate Smart Agricultural Solutions. Grekkon Limited’s products solutions play a pivotal role in achieving this.

Climate Smart Agriculture In Kenya

Products

1. Dam liners for water conservation

Climate smart agriculture in Kenya is only complete with the availability of sufficient irrigation water for the crop. Dam lined water reservoirs or water pans are a first step in conserving or storing irrigation water. This water is sourced from the rain during the riny season for use during the dry season, harvesting of run off water, or from natural occuring sources such as ruvers, lakes, and other water bodies

Grekkon Limited’s dam liners are supplied in these thicknesses; 0.5mm, 0.75mm, and 1mm. These UV-treated black high density polyethylene (HDPE) dam liners are manufactured for tropical climates. They prevent water loss through seepage into the soil. Changing rainfall patterns and unpredictable seasons are increasingly becoming a norm in Africa. This is why the need for agricultural water conservation is growing amongst farmers

Grekkon Limited’s dam liners prices in Kenya are;

A dam liner in a water pan for vegetable crops irrigation installed by Grekkon Limited in Moyale county

2. Solar water pumps

Drip irrigation kits conserve water through targeted irrigation. The water is channeled to the crop’s root zone where it is most needed. This prevents run-off, reduces evaporation losses, and enhances uptake, making drip irrigation the most efficient way to irrigate most crops

Drip irrigation on a young watermelon crop

Solar powered irrigation irrigation systems are a combination of a solar water pump, and drip irrigation systems. Grekkon Limited supplies and installs them as 1/4 acre, 1/2 acre, 1 acre or tailored units for farmers

Solar powered irrigation kits prices

Climate Smart Agriculture In Kenya

Solar Powered Irrigation Kits Components

1. A water source. This will be a deep or shallow well, a dug out or natural water reservoir, a river, lake or a an artificial water storage unit
2. Mounting structure for solar photovoltaic (PV) panels
3. A solar pump. This will be either a submersible solar electric water pump (ideal for wells), or a surface solar water pump. The pump will be fixed or portable depending on the size
4. A solar water pump controller
5. The irrigation system. Most solar powered irrigation systems have the drip irrigation kit as the watering component. This is because it operates under low volume, low pressure

Components of a solar powered irrigation system

Climate Smart Agriculture In Kenya

How A Solar Powered Irrigation Kit Works

• Electricity to run the solar water pump is generated by solar PV panels. They absorb the sun’s energy converting it to direct current (DC) electical energy
• This DC energy flows into an inverter/ controller which converts it to alternating current (AC) electrical energy
• The AC power is channeled to the motor, which runs the pump
• The pump distributes water to the irrigation system

The number of panels used depends on the motor size. The larger it is, the higher the number of PV panels required

A farmer will opt to irrigate by pumping directly to the irrigation system, or to an elevated storage unit, from which the water flows to the irrigation system by gravity

Solar Powered Irrigation Kit

Benefits

i. It allows for water pumping in electricity off-grid locations by generating its own solar electric power

ii. It reduces the emissions of greenhouse gases as it does not run on fossil fuels

iii. Farmers produce all your round so long as irrigation water is available

iv. It has near zero maintainance and operating costs, as there’s no drudgery during irrigation

v. There are no opertional costs unlike fossil fuel powered water pumps that require diesel or petrol purchases to run

4. Solar Dryers

Climate smart agriculture in Kenya incorporates solar dryers. They work with solar strength, andthe hybrid model are augmented with a biomass heat unit if so desired by the client. Our agricultural solar dryers design is according to the product, location, and drying volume per session. These passive or active solar dryers for fruits and vegetables are fixed or portable as the user needs it. The fixed ones are large and impractical to move about, while the portable one are small domestic drying units

Climate Smart Agriculture In Kenya

Solar Dryer Materials

• Light UV treated translucent polythene paper to allow heat and light. The paper also has anti-drip treatment to prevent dew formation which causes moulds to form on food
• Heavy UV treated geomembrane to conserve heat
• Steel bars galvanized with food-grade aluminum or zinc for food safety
• UV treated heavy gauge netting to prevent insect pests from entering

A simple portable solar dryer under construction by the Grekkon technical team at Rusinga Island, Homa Bay county. The local community will dry bananas for processing into flour

Our solar dryers for fruits and vegetables have shelves at different levels depending on the volume or weight of food crops to dry per session.

Climate Smart Agriculture In Kenya

1. Passive/ Natural Circulation Food Solar Dryer

Grekkon Limited solar dryers work in the following steps;

i. Capture & collect the sun’s heat

ii. Create a ‘greenhouse effect’ which causes moisture loss from the produce

iii. Air coming into the dryer exits with this moisture from the vent

2 Active/ Forced Circulation Food Solar Dryer

In addition to what takes place in the passive solar drying unit, the fans force in hot air from outside, and force out hotter air combined with moisture from inside the dryer. At night or on cloudy/ rainy days, the biomass unit supplies the drying heat.

Pros and cons of a food solar dryer in Kenya

1. Speed of drying. Food dries four to five times faster.
2. Quality. As the sun’s UV rays do not get into direct contact with the drying food, the food’s; color, taste, scent, and nutritional value is unaffected
3. Cleanliness. The food is free from dust, sand, or other external contaminants
4. No pests. Insect, bird, or mammalian pests have no access to food in the dryer, so no attack occurs
5. It is more expensive to build and maintain than open-air drying

Solar dried chilli peppers

5. Multi storey gardens

Multi storey gardens by Grekkon Limited enhance climate smart agriculture in Kenya because they conserve land and water.

An established multi-storey garden set up by Grekkon Limited in Kinanie area, Machakos county

Climate Smart Agriculture In Kenya

Multi-Storey Garden Price In Kenya

The multi-storey garden price in Kenya depends on:

1. The geomembrane thickness. The company’s multi-storey gardens are supplied either as 0.75mm or 1mm thick geomembranes. The client chooses the most approprite thickness for their garden. The cost of a 0.75mm unit is Kes 2,500, and tht of a 1mm is Kes 3,000
2. If it includes installation fee. Where the company provides installation services, an additional charge of Kes 1,000/ unit applies to the aforementioned cost

Climate Smart Agriculture In Kenya

How To Build A Multi-Storey Garden

• Prepare the ground where the unit will be set by ensuring that it is flat, and free of debris
• Collect the requisite amount of soil and manure which you’ll heap next to where the multi-storey garden unit will be set up. Each unit utilises 7 wheelbarrows of soil, and 90kgs of manure. The soil must be of a fine tilth, and the manure fully decomposed
• Mix the soil and the manure evenly
• Cut the dam liner material into 5 pieces each of the required dimensions
• Weld the cut out five dam liner pieces to form individual circles
• Lay the first cut out piece on the piece on the ground in a circular formation. The diameter will be 2M
• Lay the second cut out piece in the middle of the first one. The diameter will be 1M
• Lay the third cut out piece in the middle of the second one. The diameter will be 0.5M
• Lay the forth cut out piece in the middle of the third one. The diameter will be 0.25M
• Lay the fifth cut out piece in the middle of the forth one. The diameter will be 0.1M
• Add soil/ manure mixture to the gaps between the cones
• Add water/ irrigate
• Establish your crop

The top most part unlike the others below which are circular strips is a completely circular garden with an area of 78.5cm square

Climate Smart Agriculture In Kenya

Benefits of a Muli-Storey Garden

i. Space utilisation. Similar to a storeyed house, this garden saves considerable amount of space

ii. Crop diversity. A farmer will choose to have different crops in one multi-storey unit

iii. Ease of management. It is easy to irrigate, weed, and fertilise. Irrigation will be done by overhead watering, or intalling a drip irrigation system on the unit

iv. Ease of establishment. It can be set up anywhere, so long as there is adequate sunlight. Farmers will have it indoors or outdoors

v. Portability. The garden can disassembled, and moved from one location to another