Mentorship Seminar

CAVS will hold a mentorship Seminar titled “Making the Best While in Campus" on 8th July 2015.

The guest speaker will be Lennard Asher from Empowerment Resource Technologies Limited.

The Venue: 8.4.4 Lecture Theater and Time: from 12.30 p.m. - 2.00 p.m.

Click to read Memo attached

ALL ARE WELCOME!!!

CAVS Biogas Project

An outlook of the completed College Biogas Dome from above 

The above refereed project started in earnest on Friday13th March, 2015 after a colorful ceremony to hand over the site to the contracting firm, Pharma Consulting Engineers, witnessed by the CAVS and Ministry of Energy and Petroleum officials. The contract was signed between the Ministry and the Contracting firm on 5^th March 2015. The contract sum is KES 7.5 million and construction will take 20 weeks and an additional 8 weeks of system testing.

The work has progressed well with the following accomplished to date.

1.   Digester and expansion chamber construction completed

2.   Gas pipe line of 1.3 km in length excavated, laid and backfilled to the right compaction.

3.   Seven water condensation traps put in place to collect vapour that would otherwise impede gas flow to the kitchen.

4.   Channel to direct cow dung to mixing chamber for ease of collection and channel to direct bio-slurry to the nearby farm.

5.   Biogas bag , compressor, desulfulizer, 4- 50 litre cook stoves and two gas meters procured in readiness for installation once gas build up is witnessed and possible leakages eliminated completely.

6.   Biogas bag enclosure completed, though anticipated to provide a shelter

Seed Production Field Diagnostics

The Seed Enterprise Management Institute (SEMIs) project at CAVS successfully held its first scheduled course on seed production field diagnostics. The one week course was attended by 24 participants from 11 Sub-Saharan African countries. At the start of the course, the trainees laid their expectations of the course which ranged from; managing pests and diseases in beans, insect identification and control, managing diseases of nuts among others. The participants were instructed on a number of key topics which included; the seed value chain, insect pests, weeds, diseases and their management and crop inspection procedures.                  

Apart from lectures, laboratory practicals and field sessions were held at CAVS where the course attendants were engaged in hands-on activities to instill the theories.  Laboratory practical sessions were held at Botany lab, department of plant science where insect infested crops and diseased plants were availed for studies at different days. Similarly, weed plants were also availed however participants were also moved to the Field station crop lands where they instilled elaborate skills on scouting for pests and disease identification.

As the course progressed, field visits were made to KEPHIS Muguga, KEPHIS Lanet and KALRO Njoro where more practical sessions in laboratories and field were held. This provided a platform for participants to ask pertinent questions on regulations and control of pests and diseases by government bodies.

Take home message for participants

The Participants trained from the various seed companies acknowledged the depth of knowledge SEMIs presenters had. They attested to fact that the training had refreshed their minds on aspects of pest management and seed value chain as a whole.  At the same time, they marveled at how SEMIs team was well organized with respect to training and hospitality.