Dried vegetables boost Kisumu widows' income

Members of Awuoth Women Community Based Organisation  (CBO) in Nyamasaria, Kisumu county, are a busy lot, handling many types of traditional African vegetables.

When the Seeds of Gold team visited, some women were sorting various vegetables – from cow peas (kunde), black night shade (managu), spider plant (saga) to green amaranth – and placing them in a charcoal “fridge”.

Another group was cutting the vegetables, blanching and putting them in the solar drier.

The charcoal “fridge” and solar drier are some of the interventions employed by the women to reduce post-harvest losses.

Awuoth Women CBO chairperson, Yuanita Hongo, says the group made huge losses for many years, adding that a lot of the produce would be thrown away after going bad.

The vegetable farming started in 2018 to enable the widows have some income.

Awuoth Women CBO has 400 women and 100 youth.

“Vegetables are perishable. There are times we could not find buyers fast enough. We just didn’t know what to do,” Ms Hongo says.

This went for long time before the group members and leaders felt the need to take action and prevent the mounting losses.

It was agreed that the CBO applies for grant from USAID.

Fortunately, Awuoth Women CBO’s proposal was accepted.

“Under the Kenya Crops and Dairy Market Systems Activity, we were given Sh1.5 million to build the solar drier structure, the charcoal cooling unit and two walking tractors. A total of Sh635,000 of the amount received from USAID went to the project,” Mrs Hongo says.

Group members were taken through training by USAID officials.

They were shown technology that could be applied to improve income by boosting vegetable production.

Increased acreage

The members were also trained on preserving the vegetables through drying. 

With the innovative interventions like the cooling charcoal unit, Awuoth Women CBO was able to increase the shelf life of vegetables.

“The interventions have helped cut down post-harvest losses. We have learnt to preserve the remaining vegetable without making them lose their nutritional value,” the group chairperson says.

Awuoth Women CBO receives fresh vegetables in Nyamasaria before distribution begins.

The CBO buys a kilogramme of cowpeas, managu and saga at Sh20, Sh30 and Sh40 respectively.

The members then sort the vegetables and sell to vendors, schools, hospitals and walk-in customers.

The group has entered into an agreement with Beyond Fruits outlet at Mega City to supply vegetables on Fridays and Saturdays.

The remaining stock is washed, cut, blanched and dried.

Once the vegetables are solar dried, they are weighed and packed in polythene bags for sale.

Simlaw Seeds Company Chief Research Officer, Robert Musyoki, says the solar drying system helps the produce retain its nutritional value.

“Blanching and drying vegetables is affordable,” Musyoki says.

He advises farmer to seek Kenya Bureau of Standards and export certificates.

On a good month, Awuoth Women CBO makes sales of Sh38,000 to sh46,000.

“We buy from farmers and pay them promptly. It has motivated them to increase land under vegetables. Many have increased the acreage from a quarter to half to produce traditional African vegetables,” Mrs Hongo says.

The acres under the vegetables in East and Central Kolwa wards have increased from 65 to 258.

As the land under vegetables increases, so does the demand for mechanised farming.

“We have embraced new technology  to boost vegetable production. The biggest challenge is the limited machinery,” she says.

Awuoth Women CBO wants to increase vegetable production and begin exporting the dried ones in the next five years.

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