In the Koibatek and Bomet districts of Kenya, a new crop technology is being developed jointly by farmers and researchers. From its preliminary results it could hold the key to unlocking the great farming potential in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) of Kenya.
Professor Paul Kimurto of the Department of Crops, Horticulture and Soil Science at Egerton University and fellow scientists are currently involved in establishing community based research on drought tolerant crops – chickpea and sorghum – using knowledge gathered from Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA).
83 percent of Kenya’s land is composed of Arid and Semi-Arid Lands yet more than 50 percent of it has the potential of being used for agricultural production if drought tolerant crops are developed and irrigation systems are installed. “Currently, only 10 percent of farming land in Kenya is irrigated. The vast majority, approximately 80 percent, remains ASAL which is due to the high ticket price associated to irrigation system establishment,” says Kimurto.
Average crop failure in maize and beans ranges between 20-100 percent depending on the severity of drought and the stage at which drought commences. If drought occurs at the seedling stage, 2-3 weeks after planting, all of these underdeveloped seeds will perish as they are too weak to sustain. Crops are also vulnerable during flowering which can cause total crop failure.
50 percent of Kenyans depend on aid from third party bodies such as the World Food Programme and the World Health Organisation. The frequent droughts which occur at least every five years (such as in 1984, 2000/2001, 2004, 2006/2008) cause serious food shortages in ASAL areas such as Baringo, West Pokot, Machakos, Turkana and North Eastern Kenya as is the case at the present time. The alarming impact of food shortages is malnutrition, increased poverty and increased school dropout rates amongst others.
Kenya produces an average of 2.7 million bags annually against a consumption of 3-3.3 million bags - hence a deficit of 300,000-600,000 bags is recorded annually. Wheat production amounts to 300,000 metric tons against a consumption of 700,000 tons - which translates to 40-50 percent of Kenya’s needs, leaving the remaining 60 percent to be imported. Kenya imports approximately 40 percent of its beans, mostly from the neighbouring countries of Tanzania and Uganda.
“Access to AGORA has enabled us to initiate programs within the university and apply them on the land,” says Kimurto. “The drought resistant crops project is underway in Kenya’s Baringo district where lack of rain has caused total maize and bean crop failure resulting in perpetual food shortages, malnutrition and mounting poverty. The region’s farmers were merely subsisting, crop failures due to drought had left them to depend on relief foods,” observed Kimurto.
The Baringo project at Mogotio Farmers Training Centre (FTC) in Koibatek district is a prototype which has served as a platform to evaluate which types of crops are drought resistant for possible future implementation in marginalised areas of Kenya. Kimurto and his team at Egerton University relied on AGORA to identify the different varieties of drought-resistant crops and to locate the best place to obtain the germplasm needed.
The new technology was introduced to farmers at the FTC in 2006. 200 farmers in Koibatek and 50 in Bomet are working together to zero in on the best crop genotype from the research in order to subsequently implement it in neighbouring ASAL areas. “All farmers will benefit tremendously when we finally make the technology available to them. We are targeting the roughest regions such as: Baringo, Nakuru districts, Kerio Valley and Koibatek,” explains Kimurto. These regions are made up of between 48-80 percent of ASAL - where chickpeas can be grown as well as beans and maize, meaning that food provisions will be ensured by at least 20-30 percent.
Already farmers taking part in the FTC project have seen a tremendous turnaround in production in comparison to cultivation results in previous years. “There is no official data yet, however, we are estimating the increase in sustainable crops production to 20-30 percent,” Kimurto summed up.
Farmers in the specified ASAL areas rely heavily on beans and maize which are highly susceptible to drought. Chickpeas on the other hand, have a high protein value comparably to beans, which are consumed by people of Indian descent in order to stabilise high blood pressure levels. On top of their nutritional benefits, chickpeas naturally inject nitrogen into the soil which reduces the amount of fertiliser needed to be applied to the crops. Lastly, Sorghum is high in carbohydrate content as well as protein and has a noticeable long post-harvest life. Kimurto is currently extending his research to finding a genotype that will be resistant to pests which will ultimately enable farmers to resort to the use of less pesticide.
