Take the tablet form of this medication with a full glass of water (8 ounces/240 milliliters) unless your doctor directs you otherwise. If you are using the liquid form of this medication, How to use Prednisone

[pb_row background="none" solid_color_value="#FFFFFF" solid_color_color="#ffffff" gradient_color="0% #FFFFFF,100% #000000" gradient_color_css="" gradient_direction="vertical" pattern="" repeat="full" image="" stretch="none" position="center center" paralax="no" parallax_scroll="no" video_url="" autoplay="no" border_width_value_="0" border_style="solid" border_color="#000" width_value="" width_unit="%" div_padding="" div_padding_top="10" div_padding_bottom="10" div_padding_right="10" div_padding_left="10" css_suffix="" id_wrapper="" ][pb_column span="span12"][pb_accordion el_title="Kaves 1" initial_open="1" multi_open="no" filter="no" appearing_animation="0" ][pb_accordion_item heading="KAVES in brief..." ]The USAID-Kenya Agricultural Value Chain Enterprises (KAVES) is a 5 year project that seeks to increase the productivity and incomes of smallholder farmers and other value chain actors working in the horticultural ,maize and other staples and dairy sectors thereby improving nutrition  and enhancing food security in 22 counties in arid and semi arid(SA2)  and high rainfall (HR1) areas . The KAVES project aims to make interventions that rectify specific constraints and inefficiencies in the production, processing and marketing of 10 value chains which include; maize, Irish potato, sweet potato, banana, sorghum, pulses, groundnut, French beans, mango and passion fruit.[/pb_accordion_item][pb_accordion_item heading="Problem Statement" icon="icon-help" ]

Small holder farmers in the African context work in a highly hostile environment that is not conducive to the upgrading of small and often informal producers. Smallholder farmers possess few physical and natural resources such as access to land, water or irrigation systems; they often have very little technical skills and low managerial capacity. They are often have very little access to commercial markets have difficulty in accessing inputs, finance and credit services. These constraints pose a huge challenge for them to ably participate in commercial value chains and when they do participate, high transaction costs are often involved due to the small and dispersed nature of their farming enterprises. 
 
 Value Chain partnerships (VCP) are increasingly being recognized as a promising mechanisms enhancing inclusion of smallholder farmers in commercial value chains. Value Chain partnerships have been defined as voluntary and collaborative engagements between different actors in the value chains which have an institutionalized but not hierarchical structure that strives for a sustainability goal   
 These partnerships are increasingly becoming a solution to overcome market or state failures, and to increase value chain efficiency as partners are able to pool their knowledge, capabilities and resources to offer advantages in terms of productivity, cost reduction and innovations  . The underlying assumption is that by pooling resources together, the VCP’s will generate end results which would otherwise have been difficult to obtain individually.
 

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Farm Concern International (FCI) is a small holder commercialization and market development organization that is a front runner in developing and implementing tailor made interventions that respond to impediments on commercialization and market inefficiencies along the agri-value chains. FCI believes in partnerships and works through strategic partnerships with value chain players such as input providers, government organizations, research bodies, universities, local authorities, processing companies, traders, supermarkets and local markets all geared towards commercialization and market development of small holder communities in Africa
In the development of the value chain partnerships FCI will focus on creating them along the seed farmers, market and consumer components of the value chains. This will ensure that every component of the Value chain is addressed and that the partnerships allow wider interactions resulting in greater impact among the target communities.
The value chain Partnerships will create an excellent opportunity for the value chain players to learn from the experiences of other value chain players through sharing of information, new research findings, market information and case studies. This will not only enhance knowledge but will create synergies among the value chain players through increased interaction and partnerships with each other. The VCP’s shall also offer trading opportunities for the actors involved in Agri- trade in the value chains and provide information that will enable them to make the right investment choices.
 
The VCP will further be graduated into a market information platform for various sets of information under KAVES and used for quantifying and assessing investments by private sector in target crops. 
 

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  • Maize: 
Maize is the staple food in Kenya and is critical for food security. The average Kenyan consumes approximately 98 kilograms of maize every year. It is grown by 98% of the country’s 3.5 million smallholder farmers who produce 70 – 80% of the maize.  Kenya produces 3 million tonnes; however, this is not sufficient for the country (FAO, 2012). The country has a potential productivity rate of 39% based on global averages.
  •  Sorghum: 
Sorghum is the 5th most produced cereal in the world with over 300 million consumers. In terms of production, Nyanza and Western lead at 52% and 23 % respectively with a per capita consumption of 3kgs per year (AGRA,). It is a highly nutritious food and is also drought resistant.
 
  • Irish Potato: 
The Irish potato is the second most important food crop in Kenya after maize employing 2.5 million people (CIP, 2011). About 35,000 hectares of potatoes are cultivated in Kenya while the production in Kenya is currently worth about KES 50 billion  (NPCK, 2015). Irish potato has a high potential for addressing food insecurity due to its high productivity per unit area. The potato industry can increase if production and processing is optimised
 
  • Banana:
 The banana is a staple crop in Kenya. It has one of the highest values of enterprise per unit area and has high gross margins. It is a very nutritious crop and economically viable as there is high demand for green and ripe bananas in the domestic market. According to the National Banana Strategy for 2013- 2016, Bananas contribute 30-40% of all the fruit revenue generated in the country (KNBDS, 2014).
 
  • Pulses: 
Kenya is among the top pulse producers with a value of 760,000 tonnes annually. It is a high protein plant and requires small land acreage. 
 
  • Groundnuts: 
The prevailing high demand for groundnuts internationally and within Kenya presents an opportunity to invest in local groundnut production and trading. This is evidenced by the growing middle income class in developing countries and their increasing preferences for packaged snack and food products.
 
  • French beans: 
French beans in Kenya are mainly grown for the export market. A key consideration in expanding and maintaining regional and international trade in French beans is compliance with market standards and government regulations in importing countries. French beans accounted for 29 per cent, Sh4 billion, of Kenya’s total earnings from vegetable exports of Sh13.7 billion last year. 
 
  • Mango:
Currently, mango has an output of 10 tonnes per hectare. Kenya has a competitive advantage in mango production and marketing namely; excellent almost year-round production conditions, strong local markets and proximity of Gulf markets for fresh fruit, substantial recent investment in fruit juice processing facilities, established global marketing capability of export companies and excellent private sector support services available. 
 
  • Passion fruit: 
The main challenge to passion fruit production is lack of clean planting material free from fusariumwilt; woodiness and die-back diseases which if addressed will greatly mitigate the disease p

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FCI VISION :Commercialized smallholder communities with increased incomes for improved, stabilized & sustainable livelihoods in Africa and beyond.