FARMER INFORMATION COLUMN
(A). What you need to know to become a farmer?
The farmer needs to know his roles and those of the miller as stated below; FARMER ROLES - Provide suitable land for cane farming
- Clear land off bushes and cane trash in readiness for cane establishment
- Carry out Good cane planting as per recommended Quality standards
- Carry out recommended cane maintenance through timely weeding, Fertilizer application, Trash lining, pest and disease control etc.
- Ensure effective and efficient utilization of services provided by Miller and guard against negative vices such as inputs diversion, cane poaching etc. in order to obtain satisfactory yield.
- Allow cultivation of seed cane nurseries for multiplication of seed cane material to be supplied to other farmers.
MUMIAS SUGAR COMPANY ROLES - Timely provision of services such as :
- Quality Land preparation
- Land survey
- Soil analysis
- Adequate and quality seed cane
- Adequate and quality fertilizer
- Quality Harvesting and Transport of cane
- Prompt payment of farmers
- Technology generation and dissemination through farmer education and extension programmes
- Cooperate social responsibility
- Customer care relations such as farmer query handling
(B). Contractual MSC. guide - Farmer applies to be contracted as a potential sugarcane farmer
- Msc. Confirms suitability of that the land based on:
- Within the scheme’s maximum zonal distance of 60kms.
- Has access of 6ms wide
- Has less than 6% of its area occupied by rock outcrop
- Has slope not exceeding 30%
- Has rooting depth of no less than 450mm.
- Authenticate plot ownership
- Plot contingency with travel distance of less than 50m between plots.
- Acceptable soil analytical criteria
- Farm blocking system of 10.00 has is maintained
- Preparation and signing of contract.
(C). Service deliver guide
This is based on Standard process for Quality Assurance in cane production and ISO documented procedures. - Timely and good land preparation to enable cane planting between March and October.
- Survey land to establish actual acreage
- Timely delivery of adequate quantities of good quality seed cane to achieve planting seed rate of 8.5 TC per hectare.
- Timely delivery of adequate quantities of fertilizer
- Generate and disseminate new and innovative cane production technologies through robust farmer extension programmes.
- Provide high quality harvesting standards and efficient and effective cane transport system.
- Offer a fast, efficient and effective cane payment system
- Provide an effective and efficient customer relations/care service
(D). Business constraints / challenges - Land subdivision
- Frequent cane cutter and cane transport strikes
- Inputs diversion
- Cane poaching
- Farmer overdependence on MSC.
(E). Innovations - Soil fertility management through composting
- Farm based soil fertility management to generate soil maps for specific nutrient supply
- Deep Ploughing
- Block fertilizer application
- Early maturing cane varieties
- Weed management by use of herbicides.
- GIS for surveying and route maps
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