Baringo sorghum farmers moan lack of crop market
By Wycliffe Kipsang, March 7, 2022A decision by a group of farmers from the arid Lawan in Barwessa area in Baringo North sub-county in Baringo to venture into sorghum farming is changing lives.
Besides ensuring food security, the initiative has also seen a significant drop in rampant cases of cattle-rustling that was the norm as sorghum farming fast takes over livestock rearing.
When People Daily toured the area, we found many farmers toiling in their farms with others already harvesting their produce.
“Unlike maize that we have to wait for more than nine months to be ready for harvesting, sorghum takes only 63 days to be harvested. Sorghum can also do well in areas with unreliable rainfall unlike maize which sometimes wither under harsh climatic conditions,”said Mary Chepkeres, a farmer.
Already, Chepkeres’s five-acre farm is already under sorghum. The mother of six expects to harvest more than 50 bags this season.
However, the farmers’ major challenge is lack of a ready market, but this will soon be a thing of the past after East African Breweries Limited expressed interest in their produce.
Brewer’s representatives are expected to tour the area next week to reach into a formal agreement with the farmers.
“With sorghum,we are assured of a steady income throughout the year as we can plant it three times a year. Our people should be encouraged to venture into it and hunger, which has ravaged them over the years will be a thing of the past,” said Colonel (Rtd) Moses Kwonyike, the brainchild of the initiative.
Colonel (Rtd) Kwonyike, who has also planted sorghum in his five-acre piece of land approached the Food Crops Research Institute that provided the farmers with fast maturing Gadam variety sorghum seeds.
Stray elephants
The farmers, however, have to reckon with stray elephants from the nearby Kamnarok Game Reserve, which usually damage their crops. They have since called on Kenya Wildlife Service to fence off the reserve to curb possible human-wildlife conflict. Birds that feed on sorghum seeds have also been giving the farmers sleepless nights, especially when it is almost ready for harvesting.
“Sorghum farming is very labour intensive and if we can get incentives from the government including subsidised seeds, fertilizer and tractors to prepare our farms we will turn this valley into a grain basket,”said Joshua Kiptui, another farmer.
Governor Stanley Kiptis welcomed the initiative, saying the area has a big potential in sorghum farming, as one of the orphan crops that can make the area be self reliant in terms of food sufficiency.
According to Kiptis, his administration has been supporting the farmers by sending their officers to offer extension services to them.
“To minimise attacks from birds, we have been encouraging the farmers to go full blast and commercialise sorghum farming and the results are encouraging. This will not only boost production but minimise the bird damage as the risk will be spread over a large area,” Kiptis said.