Farmers become wise the day they realise selling raw products fetches them a raw deal. Lawrence Mwirigi, a banana farmer from Imenti South, knows this all too well.

“I depend on bananas to raise my family. Value addition is important. That is why I, not only specialise in raw bananas, but also develop wine, beer, crisps and flour,” says Mwirigi, who is a member of the Meru Banana Farmers Cooperative. To reap maximum benefits from their produce, the 5,000-member Imenti Central Community have built a factory at Katheri location where everything derived from the banana plant is utilised. The organisation has brought new meaning to the term value addition, which is the enhancement a company gives its product or service before offering the product to customers “We realised we could make much more money if we pursued value-addition. So we mobilised members and set up a factory where we produce banana crisps, flour and animal feeds.

The banana flour is nutritious and is used to flavour foods such as githeri (beans and corn, what the yorubas call adalu) , chapatti, and porridge,” says Paul Kiambi, one of the group’s leaders. “We pack the crisps in 20gm, 50gm and 100gm packets which we sell at local supermarkets and other outlets at Sh50 (N100), Sh100 (N200)and Sh150 (N300)respectively,” says Kiambi. “From the peels, we make animal feeds for pigs, chicken and cattle. All our products have the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) seal.” And the farmers have bigger plans — they are working to build a banana beer and wine factory at Thuura in Imenti North. Another group, the Kaaria Banana Farmers from Imenti North, also have a small factory where banana crisps are made. “We are a small group but our membership is increasing. We want to recruit more members so we can raise the funds required to construct a large factory,” says Anne Kagendo, the group’s secretary.

RIPENING KITS

Mwirigi Karinga, the chairman of the Meru Banana Cooperative, says the Kenya Agricultural Productivity Programme (Kapp) issued them with weighing scales recently. “Previously, buyers set prices just by looking at the bananas. But farmers are now selling them by the kilo. We thank Kapp for this and for the ripening kits and packaging crates they donated to farmers,” Karinga said. And now, the cooperative is set to become the first to produce banana wine, Jivenna, and banana beer, Mebna (short for Meru Banana).

“Kebs has approved the beer which will come in 300ml bottles and will have an alcohol content of 6.2 per cent. The wine, in a 750ml bottle, has not been approved yet because it was found to have an alcohol content of 14.6 per cent instead of the 14 per cent specified by Kebs. We are working to reduce the alcohol content. These products will help reduce consumption of illicit brews,” said Karinga. The beer will be brewed using bananas and either sorghum or millet. “The production of the beer and wine is set to start any time now. We have not set the prices yet,” he said.

Jenaro Guantai, Meru county’s (State) agriculture executive, has received documents from Kebs approving the samples for banana beer. In 2013, the county (State) produced a total of 323,363 tonnes of bananas valued at Sh3.8 billion (N7.6 billion)up from the previous year’s 286,205 tonnes that fetched Sh3.1 billion(N6.2 billion) .“Meru now accounts for 40 per cent of Kenya’s total annual banana production. We are producing more than Kisii,” said Guantai. So lucrative is banana farming in Meru that it is now replacing coffee as the most preferred crop to grow.

“Banana is becoming an increasingly important cash crop in the county (State). The crop is now grown in former coffee zones,” said Dr Muthee Mwoga, the coordinator of the Kenya Agricultural Productivity Programme (Kapp), in Meru. Kapp has helped scale up production through training farmers on best practices and supplying them with ripening kits, packaging crates and weighing scales. Last week, more farmers were given ripening kits by Kapp, courtesy of the World Bank. “Ripening is also value-addition. Ripened bananas cost more,” said Dr Mwoga. “Our work is to support the county(State) government and farmers to increase productivity and reap maximum profits. We encourage them to sell by the kilo.”

Major banana markets located along the Meru-Nairobi highway — Ntharene, Mwichiune, Kamachege, Miruriri, Kariene and Kanyekine — are teeming with buyers and sellers who come from Nairobi, Nakuru and other major towns. Most of the produce ends up in markets in Nairobi. Some of the main varieties in Meru are sweet bananas (gacukari), FIA, Cavendish and Kampala.

MAXIMUM PROFITS

Douglas Mutwiri, a farmer from Kagaru village, supplies the nearby Kanyekine High School with 200 kilogrammes of bananas every week at Sh25 (N50) per kilo. He earns Sh210,000 (N420,000) per year from the school. He also sells to traders at local markets. “Bananas support my family. Value addition is key, so I have ripening kits from Kapp. When they are ripe I sell one kilo at Sh25 (N50). When they are not ripe, they go for Sh15 (N30)per kilo,” he said.

Stephen Murithi earns about Sh20,000 (N40,000)weekly from his banana crop. “I grow Kampala, sweet bananas, FIA, Grand Nine, Grand Michelle, Kiganda, Gishagara and other varieties. Taking care of banana plants is easy. I do not even use fertiliser because cow dung manure is better. They just need water and manure,” says Mr Murithi.

Other areas of the county(State) that benefited from the Kapp-World bank programme are Tigania West and Tigania East. “In the past, banana farmers were exploited by brokers because prices were determined by their ability to bargain. But now farmers will only sell their produce by the kilo,” Guantai told Smart Harvest in Tigania West. Dr Mwoga said farmers can more readily sell in bulk if they form cooperative societies. “We want banana farmers to maximise their profits because they work hard in their farms. They will earn double from their ripe bananas. It is another way of achieving value addition,” he said at Kitheo market, in Tigania East. Mr Guantai said the county(State) government was in contact with foreign buyers, with a view to exporting local produce.


http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2000179893/farmers-team-up-to-set-up-kenya-s-first-ever-banana-wine-beer-factory?pageNo=1

Meru county is one of the 47 states in Kenya and it is merely 6,936 km² not even up to 25% of the size of Oyo State alone but in 2014 they made N7.6 billion alone from producing only banana! This should make us have a re-think!

Impressive. Kenya's agric industry is definitely much organized than what is obtainable in Nigeria. Even the small cottage farmers seem to have a sense of direction and good organization among it's cooperatives.

But I'm thinking, the bananas mentioned were referring to what we call plantains in these parts. Am I correct?

whirlwind7:
Impressive. Kenya's agric industry is definitely much organized than what is obtainable in Nigeria. Even the small cottage farmers seem to have a sense of direction and good organization among it's cooperatives.

But I'm thinking, the bananas mentioned were referring to what we call plantains in these parts. Am I correct?

It is the same bananas we know in Nigeria. Kenyans are not into Plantain, they neither cultivate nor eat it, the ones sold here which we foreigners buy are imported from Uganda, Congo and Burundi. l always have to show pictures to them of what plantain looks like! There was a time l bought N200 worth of unripe bananas which was about 17 fingers thinking it was plantain because of its very big size even bigger than plantain l buy back in Lagos. After some days it began to soften but still retained its unripe colour, it was another Nigerian who cleared me of the ignorance, informing me that it is a variety of banana called green bananas meant for cooking and mashed into a meal !