Farmers Review Africa May/June 2017 Farmers Review Africa | Page 9

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Kenya
"I got the chemicals from the county government and even bought others
myself, and dedicatedly sprayed my crops, but the pest have been on and
off. I spray, they disappear for about three weeks, and reappear once
again. One has to keep on spraying, we were told," said Ambuche, noting
currently the armyworms have disappeared on his farm.
On the other front, Ambuche, like many other farmers in the region and
across the country, has to tackle inadequate rains that threaten to heap
losses on struggling farmers.
"I have lost hope on maize farming. I planted the crop on two acres and
now all of it has withered because of poor rains," said Bernard Njuguna,
a farmer in Rongai in Nakuru.
Njuguna had counted himself lucky as his crop was not affected by the
fall armyworms, but the scarce rain still battered his hope for a bumpy
Tough year ahead for
Kenya's maize farmers
harvest.
"e rains disappeared sometime early May when I had top dressed my
crops, this is despite them coming late. is is usually a critical stage
Samuel Ambuche, a maize farmer in Bungoma, western Kenya, is when the crops need a lot of water, the reason why they have withered,"
anxious as the clock ticks towards September. said Njuguna.
His plight is shared by many farmers in the country where it has rained
erratically for the last two seasons.
e month is usually the crop's harvesting season, but this time round,
Ambuche who planted maize and beans on ve acres is assured of a poor
yield. And as the maize matures for the lucky farmers, they would again have
e odds have been heavily against him and other farmers in Kenya, to contend with a poor market despite high cost of production.
is season, production costs have doubled as farmers spend lots of
with maize farming facing several hurdles this season.
resources on ghting armyworms.
"Last season things were a little better because the only challenge we
However, as previous experiences show, the market would not be willing
faced was poor fertiliser, which we corrected in time but the rains were
adequate. is season we have been ghting two major challenges: to reimburse farmers the expenses by buying their produce at premium
inadequate rains and fall armyworms," he said. prices.
Growing maize has become such a major challenge for smallholder Last season, the government offered farmers 30 dollars for each 90-kg
farmers in the East African nation that many now consider the grain a bag despite the producers pleading for more.
cursed crop.
Each season Ambuche faces a myriad of challenges, some beyond his Kenya is facing a huge maize de cit that has raised prices to 46 dollars
control, and it is becoming almost impossible to grow the crop. per bag, pushing millions of households on the edge, but a lot of
Kenya's Ministry of Agriculture announced invasion of fall armyworms September, prices would have dropped.
importation is going on currently that by the time farmers harvest in
in the country in April, about a month since the pest had been detected Kenya consumes up to 4 million bags of maize every month, according
by farmers. to the Ministry of Agriculture, with the country producing only 40
e pest has infested thousands of acres in breadbasket regions in Ri million bags annually, while the rest is imported.
Valley and western Kenya and has since spread to other areas like
"Farmers may not reap good prices for their produce this season as the
Central, Nyanza and the Coast targeting mainly maize.
A variety of other crops were also under threat, including cereals such as government allowed duty-free importation of maize which will ood the
sorghum, millet, rice, millet, wheat and barley, putting Kenya's food market. e fact is that struggling farmers may not sell their produce at
more than 27 dollars come September," said Bernard Moina, an
security at risk.
agricultural extension officer in Kitale, a breadbasket region.
Pasture grasses, vegetables, legumes, bananas, tomatoes, capsicum, He noted that maize growing in Kenya has become a taxing affair due to
ginger, spinach, amaranth, onions, sugar beet, citrus, cucumber and the numerous challenges farmers' face.
sun ower have also been attacked.
e ministry in conjunction with county governments has allocated "Perhaps it is time the Kenyan farmer considers growing other crops as
millions of U.S. dollars to purchase chemicals to help farmers ght the maize growing becomes untenable. With all these challenges, it may even
be cheaper for the country to import maize than grow it," he said.
pest.
by Bedah Mengo
www.farmersreviewafrica.com
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FARMERS
REVIEW AFRICA
May - June 2017