 Why in the morning today being entrepreneurship Tuesday? We are doing it differently We're going to talk about how to use technology in agriculture and it's really an interesting conversation We have a very powerful guesting studio who is actually going to give us deep insights about how that sector is so attractive It's amazing And if you're a millennial or a generation Z or a Gen Z in other words You should be loving it because in agriculture in some kind of way It has always been associated with people who are not literate But trust me it's it's the most as the most amazing thing to do especially right now You know being organic being climate change sensitive and at the same time trying to sensitize young people or young minds to actually follow that path because you My guest actually before before I introduce him we had a conversation We are starting to show me that you know you can still slay you can still do your nails You can still you know Be stylish and still go back to do your agriculture and come back and still continue with your same same amazing life And he's right here in the studio with us Good morning. Good morning. Thank you for joining us and why in the morning. My pleasure. All right, so Just a little bit intro of yourself, but he is a derrick and gigi He's the managing director of wise center and shamba solutions and thank you so much Just a brief overview of how you got into matters agriculture and then Here you are. Yes, so I got into agriculture very early life because my my parents You know agriculture is the main source of income in this country. So back then but Growing up. I never really liked it. Actually. I used to pray. Let me get out of it So I went into university to do mechanical engineering did several projects in industry in in medical and also energy sector however now It came back to ask myself after exploring a lot of technology In in the country and I would say the country seeing that wow We can actually utilize technology to to change agriculture and agriculture how is being done outside there It's not how we do it inside here. So That is when I changed it up to To start doing the Morgan they encouraging the youth to do the modern agriculture All right. Now when it comes to sensitizing the youth into getting into agriculture, I know it can be really hard What are some of the avenues or some of the let's say some of the means that you're using to entice them to actually Embrace tech so that they can get into agriculture in a way that it's not making them lose who they are because you know Millennials just want to be in touch with what they want not what, you know, other people want them to do but especially now agriculture so Looking at how agriculture has come to change People can the youth can actually get into it and still remain as stylish as they can be they can actually have money in their pockets I'll give you an example of let's say hydro hydroponic farming. So hydro pony farming is soulless farming and that's actually means that you don't have to Become you know handle that and all that to actually produce you're producing using water in a very clean way and then Then we have Let's say vertical gardens and in the vertical gardens This kind of you just compressing that garden into one vertical space and you're able to plant a lot of plants all together so again, it takes a lot of Lesser space and therefore less labor and then Also looking into how the technology has also changed before, you know There is a lot of internet penetration and electricity penetration in rural areas So it doesn't mean that you being in the farm disconnects you out of the world So you have you all the time to do your tiktok and everything and embrace nature there But doesn't stop you from coming here to town, you know, you it can actually fund you to To to drive your life. See it is where actually most of the employment Opportunities are because the capital in agriculture is very little compared to the capital starting another Kind of businesses. So it becomes a very Green avenue for the youth A little bit of your description it says You are Internationally recognized and you've won accolades including the coveted United process of the year award in 2020 And then Kenya head of state command a commendation on us as well making him a true leader in his field So, how did you first get here and here you are talking about this? so I really have a passion in innovation and That has been ever since I was a very young boy. I was into innovation and then so Learning about foreign technology and all that that was what I did since day one I got into university and Then is when the COVID came in so when COVID came in we were like, okay in a situation that we cannot import ventilators and we cannot You know Technology is very limited and we have to use the resources because no imports again coming into the country So again, we have to look how can we help our country? So we assembled a group of 15 students and we started now working on The the medical machine in the first African ventilator So that is what got me out and that's why I asked myself if we could make this machine Completely foreign to us. We had to take very long time listening to medics Doing a lot of research Why can't we replicate that in agriculture which is a very common thing to us? We have grown in farms. We every day you not, you know, we always have Within that agriculture space. In fact, agriculture is the greatest contributor of our GDP So why can't I innovate? Why can't I bring? Change into this space, which I see a lot of potential in it. All right interesting and and that has reminded me of Of course, the president said they're importing fertilizers to ensure that farmers Farming especially right now because it's a rainy season. What do you make of that? Do you feel like the fertilizer is is going to even aid more farmers in terms of boasting production in terms of even Spreading awareness that yes, we are just from this chaotic electioneering period. The economy is bad Are we going to have a shift in terms of agriculture productivity? Definitely expect a shift and However, that will also We need to change our culture a little bit to see a very Positive change and I would want also to convert the the government apart from Giving the fertilizers. They did a very detailed research on the states of our soils in Kenya a bit which was missed out by By by by Kenyans, we never got to understand that beats in fact today in Moranga County Karo in collaboration with another international company. They're releasing a report on the soil status in in Moranga County, so Apart from getting this fertilizer subsided fertilizer I would send the days farmers to also do soil testing so that they're able to understand This fertilizer that have been given. How do I apply it and at what stage is it compatible to? Kind of soil that I have yes and are they compatible to the type of soil that I have and and and given right now that there's the not big I mean variation they're given one type of fertilizer is now a question of how do I apply it to make sure that it is Releasing the right quantities at the right time so that I can have a difference Rather than the traditional way of applying it just during planting and during with them here Right. I'm also thinking in in the place of like now organic manure. What is now the difference between yes You are importing this fertilizer, but it's not organic. It's it's more chemical You know which which is which now which is going to boost soil fertility because in this is in this situation You're talking about fertility and boosting production. Yes, which one should I go for as a farmer, you know Okay, so that's a very good question most farmers ask that and One thing we have to understand the soil is alive. The soil is a living component a bit remiss Because we have to nurture our soil like just like we nurture our bodies you you can't eat ugali from January to December Right. I sure definitely you'll have some complications So by understanding our soil, then you're able to know. Well, these are there These are the the the composition of my soil is how I need to boost it Then organic fertilizer, which we really really encourage farmers and also modern farmers to look into it Always, you know organic fertilizer brings in a lot of micro organisms which assist the soil to become alive Remember excessive use of inorganic fertilizer results to the death of these micro organisms and we depend on these micro organisms to convert actually the carbon that's the The the the plants have absorbed into the carbon some carbon components and store it in the soil and then The same same organism assist to break down the nutrients so that the plant is able to absorb these nutrients So it's very very key to test your soil Rations that I have to use for Inorganic or the chemical fertilizer because they have instant release and then the ratios to combine it with Organic fertilizer, which gives a slow release and also nurtures the organisms in the soil. All right good I'm looking at it from a point of a farmer or Somebody who's bursting the interiors of the rural areas where they actually don't have this kind of information Talking about here like Between March and April to not a regime voice so see what you turn the panda But then it it also turns out that the soil fertility favors them They wanna ponder jugu and jugu is an amazing of Zuri Mindy The produce is is so amazing. Why is it important for them to maybe try and even understand even more? And especially when it comes to now incorporating the government should should we have initiatives that should that should be Exactly directed towards, you know informing and and and creating awareness for people living in the rural areas Do you think that is going to help or maybe there's already existing initiatives that are already life-changing as well? Welcome back we apologize for that technical hitch, but we are still talking to Derek and Gigi who is the managing director at Y Center Shamba solutions and we are talking about how to use Technology in agriculture in other words a great take and before we went off You're trying to to tell me how you know we can ensure that you know young It's not even young like generally people from the rural areas can have this information But away from that now the way agriculture is packaged even in terms of advertising Even if you check out some of the flyers, you know, they always have a Photo or baby. I'll say a mug shot of somebody who is just somebody looks hopeless And then there's this lady who gave us speech about how we can make agriculture attractive to young people You know, how can we do that so that young people get to like when you read the first impression of an agritic Advert you really fall in love with it. How could we make it more enticing? If I could assemble five friends of mine in agriculture and We just sit down trust room, you'd think we are fully in the corporate world actually But suddenly I'm the only one who I'm pat in the corporate world and you would not tell a difference because they come in with very good cars They are very very stylish and they actually farmers I think it's the notion of how you have painted agriculture to the youth if you do it seriously It has a lot a lot of money and then the good thing about the youth They have access to information. They can also you see if you know if something is going wrong their farm They can always quickly Google ask around and get very correct information So it for them and because agriculture nowadays is more about how much you informed It becomes very very Reptile to them my friends who did completed their butlers did their masters but have never stepped in an office They are fully into agriculture doing very well So I think people need to also see that side of agriculture and I would encourage them the youth in agriculture Watch a man in mungu the good and actually show people what they are doing Because that would really help a lot of youth to embrace that side and also in Improve our outputs as an agricultural country. All right good in terms of mentorship now. Let's get to it For example somebody who never wanted to you know go back to their rural home But they like we said in the beginning agriculture is the backbone of the country How can they shift their mind and now start moving away from, you know The modern day kind of lifestyle to now the organic way because like we said millennials are really really really really You know not so easy to handle especially when it comes to things that involve their physique getting that in and in How can we push them more to us that side? We have had a lot of cases of depression mental mental breakdown and mental health issues and Just coming from that perspective and I would want somebody to just try it out go and spend Go back and spend just half of your day in a farm around nature And see how much of an impact you should have okay, and That is the way we should perceive it It's not are we all need to agree that Agriculture should not Stop us from living their life. We want to live it should not stop us No, just like an aged-five job Actually most of the agriculture work is done before 11. You're done with all and you have a lot of free time You have time to go to their friends focus on what you want. You need to know to understand I I want to do farming this type of farming This is my expected kind of output do research on it put your energy into it and at the end of the season you start seeing the money and It's very very encouraging. I There's one youth who started with one vertical garden and in this vertical garden he was able to do a hundred kills and by the end of the Sixth week he had started selling out and he bought another vertical garden and By the end of six months He had six vertical garden and they were paying out his rent and all that and he continued the multiplying The gardens now he has about 200 gardens. It gives him a decent salary per month of about a hundred hundred and twenty and He's living the life he wants in just about three years. So It is us see being positive about it knowing the end goal knowing that you need to put in the energy and In a very short time after you have understood the ropes and everything you become a master in it and start giving you great income right before we talk about a Agricultural Amalese climate friendly crops In terms of the government spearheading for such initiatives. What do you think? For the youth to actually plug in in such initiatives, what should be proposed on the table for that to be accepted so One thing is the policies the policies need to favor the young farmers and we are seeing this with the government Introducing subsidies especially in the agriculture industry. The second thing is People on the youth who have been actually in agriculture and I really love what the government of Moranga is doing under the leadership of The first lady shall in Ruto and also the deputy governor Steven Munanyam They are bringing out that good story of the youth in agriculture Especially in coffee are showing that they're actually the youth who are run who run in coffee different sectors of agriculture We have the farmers who actually farm we have the team who do branding We have the team who do which do value addition, you know, it's not even only about the the farm We have different sectors, but in the same same agriculture. So we have very good marketers We have ladies who do very good to tick tock and now what they are selling is the agriculture and the coffee outside there So you see it's an avenue for them still in agriculture doing what you love to do But now specializing in agriculture. All right now. Let's talk about crop crop I'm our climate friendly crops. Of course climate change Global warming issues of global warming out there And I think yesterday's when the president actually Give out a directive to ensure that some of the policies that should be made they should be made towards steering towards The issues at hand that includes global warming and climate change now in terms of sensitizing farmers to us That how can they aid in combating that issue of global warming and climate change? I Going again In contract to what we have been made to believe about The carbon capture the soil is the biggest organ in terms of carbon capture. So what does that means that farmers? Have the greatest role to play in reducing the carbon there and the global warming effects and a study was shown When we actually remove during the tillage period that is when we have the most carbon in The atmosphere when we have the green crop The first to leave and all that the carbon content starts at least reducing. Okay, so this means that whenever we have We have plants in the farm carbon is a lot of carbon is being captured and it's consumed It's it's consumed by the plants and then Goes down to the rules where it's stored. So what am I trying to say the farmers needs to practice what we're now calling regenerative agriculture looking into Intercropping crop rotation ensuring that you don't do a complete tillage In terms of leaving out the soil completely bare how you prepare your land to ensure that Soil erosion is to well taken care of that is a way farmers can assist in Global warming yes, right right now we are experiencing a lot of floods and like you mentioned soil erosion there's those areas that are really extreme and You realize when it floods like my new or the find the most fertile parts of the soil are Carried away. How can they be helped to ensure that once there are literally should we like continue and Go ahead and just farm are there means that we can do and I know gabion's really helped a lot What other means can be used to actually aid that? Especially now there's a project which just ended it's called narrig I was in several counties and I really loved the work we did in terms of soil erosion And you find that most of the fatter lands are really sloppy right and What they were encouraged even the landscape in Murang is it's not if you look at all the highlands areas that land is highly sloppy and Because we keep on you know farming and then it rains soil erosion takes place However, the narrig program program was the training farmers on how they can actually Counter that counter that You dig gabion's so that you're able to channel the water very well and you don't like completely throw this water You're telling it to ponds that they have actually dug and build and they're able to capture that water So such programs which have been initiated by the government again Which I say the public-private partnership in this sector has in agriculture sector has really helped to improve How the farmers are dealing with issues such as soil erosion and they're like All right as we near to a detail end of this conversation one thing that has put up in my mind regarding that is a water retention and Water harvesting of course we have been through a very extreme dry period any it's been Spelled dry and then now it's raining and it's flooding at the same time But then it to reach at a time when there be no more water So what can farmers do to ensure that the the practice water retention and then water harvesting which you know Is among a big row that can help you know farmers to be consistent in their practice so It's very good that we get this concept of planning in agriculture and By what I mean planning in agriculture in doing that we are going to have the dry seasons We're going to be have we're going to have the the dry seasons so Water harvesting then becomes very very key investing in technologies as such as the solar pumps instead of diesel pumps to ensure that even during the dry season you can sustainably irrigate your your plants using the the the the the solar pumps so Planning becomes very critical Enough advice farmers to plan how you'll harvest the run of water because that water can again be used in agriculture if you have Places where you can actually store crates microdumps within your own area then again that becomes very very important All right, and and and I thank for anyone who's watching and you know Agriculture to them was like if you know, I'm sure by now. It's it's becoming something that's easy to love Remember, there's a friend of mine who has like he believes in organic in organic stuff And there's a place he has I'm a panda mindy I'm placing in a I'm a cameo, but see it is co-chamber. I'm all these are in pots Do you feel like that's that's going to be the future trend in agriculture? We're still a similar one day, you know shaggy when there's a Panda and you go to go home But I think I'll be a dramatic you would keep on watering them anyways, and I like that I like that I wish you could see my balcony and many bus balcony It's a whole farm You enter in gonna all crops in there. Yes. Yes. So that you you know, it informs you that how Sustainable farming and smart farming you can actually do what we call crop intensification and get a lot of produce Things you have one grown. I don't go to buy skumawiki. I get from my own balcony. All right Okay, how big is it? Like how many pots do you have? I can only imagine if you're going to want to go because of my panda Okay, after how after how long do you consume skumawiki maybe two to three days, okay? You have like 10 crops within those two to three days They would have already and again, you're not like plucking all the leaves all together. You see this means they are healthy You've manure them you've watered them you ground your coffee Okay, yeah, instead of buying instead of drawing away the grounds of the coffee. That's a very good money You can always apply there. Yeah, you see so instead of drawing away some of the decomposing like you know You can just put in the pots very very nice, you know, you you see your own crops growing you enjoy a very Healthy lifestyle. All right, as we finish up before I've just discovered that you're also an engineer like that is now what you studied for and You studied engineering and you've mentored young people in a number up to up to a total of 200 in robotics and automation Wow, how did you how did you? Put that aside and then here you are into robotics because I'm trying to see engineering and Agriculture and now automation and robotics as we close up They are not they are not a part They are part of each other again and the balcony don't do irrigation. It's automated Depending on the on the moisture content in the pots The the the system will actually activate because sometimes they go away up to a week Who will do the irrigation? It's all automated on its that's why I had to bring in this concept to the youth These things we do robotics. How can we apply them in our own context? Our context is agriculture So robotics automation that has do it in our farms does do it in our drug industry Let us use the tools that we learnt in the university not to be inside the books I'm in back of the head hidden but applying it to the situation that we are in All right Yes, because most of us have just book information instead of practical information in the situation on ground Now as you find out your final point What is your punchline on the beauty about agriculture that you tell if you were to speak in a TED talk? And give a talk about the beauty of agriculture, especially in Kenya. What would be your punchline in that state took? So my punchline is B. Oh That's tough That's your camera Okay, so my punchline to all you then there's a call out to all you that There's a modern agriculture and we need to embrace it and agriculture is not about their farm Agriculture has a lot of sectors and you need to see the niche that you're in and find love in it and passion Because agriculture drives our country. Let us be part of what drives our country. Thank you. All right I think I'd love to watch that Ted took Because there's a there's a there's a lady who gave An interesting philosophy about how agriculture should be marketed so that it becomes beautiful as well When you look at the most attractive products, they have very interesting faces like the personality of the branding is so striking So I love the fact that you should be part of that so that we can help agriculture Become a marketable and attractive thing in our country. Do you do consultations? Yes, you do consultations So you can give out your contacts so people can access you. Yeah We we at Wai Sentai Shamba Solutions we focus on soil testing and grading the farmer From the beginning all to the end you can visit our website at Wai Sentai SSL comm you can also Maybe call me in my number zero seven ninety five six six six one six. Thank you. All right. Thank you for coming through My pleasure. All right. You're welcome. We have been speaking to Derek and Gigi Who is a managing director at Wai Sentai Shamba Shamba Shamba Shamba Solutions? Talking to us about how to incorporate tech in agriculture and definitely if you hated agriculture by now You are loving it to each and every inch of it and by by the way Agriculture is the most is a backbone of our country and it's not the ugliest thing like we we have you know Especially generation Z Zatutaki Kunda Kulema, but he has put it very clearly You can still do your tiktok and come back and do your nails. So do that and I love it Thank you so much for watching. We're gonna take a very short break Stephanie yet is gonna be coming up next including color me well with interesting segments right there But you can find us at Y2 for 4 channel mines is at Brian's so go on one And you can also keep it on the hashtag why in the morning soon just a bit