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By Milliam Murigi

Emukule Calistus, hailing from Akichelesit village in the Teso-North Constituency of Busia County, has been engaged in groundnut farming for over two decades.

Nevertheless, he nearly gave up on groundnut cultivation in favor of tobacco farming due to the lack of a market. Even with a successful harvest, securing a dependable buyer continued to be difficult.

He frequently needed to keep the nuts for several weeks, waiting for merchants to come. When they did arrive, the prices they offered were much lower than he had hoped. Local markets provided minimal help, bringing their own issues such as limited demand and meager profits.

As the losses increased, Calistus decreased the area dedicated to groundnuts and shifted to growing tobacco. He also started keeping his harvest for extended periods, hoping that prices would rise. However, extended storage made the nuts vulnerable to rain, insects, and pollution, resulting in decay and additional losses.

“It was deeply saddening to witness so much of my effort being lost. I dedicated weeks to nurturing, collecting, and drying my peanuts, hoping to sell them at a reasonable price, but setbacks and limited market access resulted in a significant portion of the harvest rotting or becoming tainted. Each season was a battle, and at times, I questioned whether it was worth carrying on with growing peanuts,” he states.

Calistus’ situation highlights a larger issue within Kenya’s peanut industry. Kenyan peanut growers have consistently faced significant losses after harvesting. The industry has been hindered for a long time by three major problems. The first is inadequate post-harvest management, especially the widespread habit of drying nuts on the ground, which leads to pollution and moisture fluctuations.

High levels of aflatoxin, caused by uneven drying and erratic weather conditions, render the nuts unsafe and unsellable. Additionally, unstable and unreliable markets pose challenges, as farmers often do not meet quality requirements or struggle to find buyers.

I used to lay my nuts on the ground to dry. That was the only technique I was familiar with,” he states. “However, I kept losing customers as they complained about foreign substances. I had no market for most seasons.

In Kosenyi Village, which is still part of Teso North, Coleta Ipalei encountered a comparable situation. Although she farmed a significant amount of land with groundnuts, she mainly grew the crop for her own family’s use, not because she preferred it, but due to her circumstances.

Without trustworthy buyers, a significant portion of her crop was either given to family and friends or wasted before it could be sold. Years of hard work provided minimal financial gain. As Ipalei explained, the lack of effective post-harvest management and stable markets meant her agricultural efforts rarely resulted in income.

“All of this indicates that the main challenge in the groundnut industry is not related to production, but rather to post-harvest management. If we truly want to compete in the international groundnut market, the key discussion should focus on post-harvest handling. This is where value is either preserved or lost,” states Zeddy Misiga, Director of Growth and Impact at Mamlo Foods, a company specializing in peanut value enhancement.

Amidst this context, Mamlo Foods has introduced a new program designed to tackle the most vulnerable part of the supply chain. The program centers on educating farmers in advanced drying methods, secure shelling and sorting, sealed storage, and measures to prevent aflatoxin.

Its objective is to reduce losses resulting from inadequate drying, moisture fluctuations, and pollution, which keep on costing Kenyan farmers between eight and 31 percent of their crop and hinder market access because of food safety issues.

As per Misiga, the approach is based on post-harvest technologies as the basis for enhancing value, ensuring food safety, and maintaining market competitiveness.

“Correct drying of peanuts is among the most efficient methods to minimize post-harvest losses and decrease aflatoxin content, two challenges that still pose risks to food safety and food security in numerous agricultural communities,” he states.

At the core of this method is the implementation of intelligent solar dryers, enabling farmers to evenly dry nuts while safeguarding them from rain, insects, and pollution.

The advantage of a solar dryer is that it maintains quality during the most important phase,” Misiga says. “It minimizes losses, enhances safety, and helps farmers meet the requirements set by buyers and processors.

In addition to the dryer, they are also bringing shelling machines and small-scale processing plants into farming communities. The initial facility is situated in Amagoro town, Busia County, next to the solar dryer. As per Irene Etyang, founder of Mamlo Foods, reducing the distance between farms and processing units is essential.

“Even if farmers take all the right steps on the farm, issues can occur during transportation if the produce has to travel far. The quality may decline, moisture levels can change, or contamination might happen during the journey,” explains Etyang.

The micro-factory approach ensures that peanuts are handled while they are fresh and stable, minimizing waste, lowering transportation expenses, and enabling farmers to reach markets and receive payments more quickly. By situating processing units near farming communities, Mamlo Foods retains value at the source, enhances local production networks, and helps farmers increase their income from crops.

For Ipalei, the initiative has brought about significant change. In the previous season, she earned Sh12,000 following the sale of three 100-kilo bags of groundnuts. Thanks to the training and free use of the solar dryer, her groundnuts now consistently meet the required processing standards. Importantly, Mamlo Foods ensures a market by buying all the produce from farmers.

“For the first time, I genuinely feel like a peanut farmer, not merely someone cultivating for personal use,” she states.

For many years, farmers have been drying groundnuts on open soil, a traditional method that led to contamination, inconsistent drying, and the risk of aflatoxin. Unreliable weather conditions and low-quality seeds made things worse, resulting in losses even before processing started. To tackle this issue, Mamlo Foods is also working with seed companies to enhance seed quality and uniformity.

“Superior seeds boost output; appropriate drying methods maintain that quality. Combined, they are the foundation of a strong peanut supply chain,” Misiga states.