Plant Resources of Tropical Africa

Sowing seeds of hope for farmers in arid Kinango

 

 

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It is hard enough for farmers in arid areas. It is worse if the area is characterized by poor infrastructure - poor roads, no electricity, and no adequate supply of water. It is therefore not surprising that the area has been suffering from low agricultural production, poor and undeveloped agricultural marketing and poor agro-industry base. Unfortunately, this is what farmers in Kinango District, Coast Province, Kenya have had to contend with for a very long time, condemning many of them to poverty. The District is among the poorest in Kenya with 75% of its population living below poverty line.

It has not been lost on the government that despite the harsh environmental conditions, agriculture still provides the best opportunity of improving livelihoods in the area. The Ministry of Agriculture in Kenya has been proactively promoting innovative agricultural practices in the district.

To do this effectively, the agricultural staff needed information on suitable crops and innovative technologies necessary for successful farming practices in the area. Recognizing the wealth of information that PROTA has generated over the years, Mr. Mathew Mbuve, the District Agricultural Development Officer, Kinango purchased PROTA handbooks: PROTA 1: Cereals and pulses, PROTA 2: Vegetables, PROTA 3: Dyes and tannins and PROTA 14: Vegetable oils.

According to Mbuve, the handbooks helped the officers to identify some promising crops for the area. The key crops being promoted in Kinango include drought resistant crops such as cowpeas, green grams, cassava, sorghum and horticultural crops such as capsicum and chili (Capsicum annuum), African eggplant (Solanum aethiopicum), leaf and headed cabbages (Brassica oleracea) and tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum).

Besides helping in identifying the appropriate crops, PROTA information was also used to develop dissemination and training materials for extension workers and farmers. Mbuve singles out the PROTA handbook on Vegetables that was of particular importance in the production of pamphlets and brochures on vegetable cultivation and post harvest storage.

These resources have been used to train over 23,500 farmers in the district - over the last one year alone - on the technologies for improved and sustainable agriculture, for food and income. From these trainings, farmers have adopted new crop production methods and from the records kept by farmers it can be concluded that there have been a lot of improvements both in yields and incomes.

Mr. Suleiman Itambo is one of the farmers who has benefitted from the trainings from the Kinango DAO. According to him, vegetable farming was ideal because there was great demand for vegetables locally, yet most of the farmers were into growing maize. Traders and consumers come to buy his sukuma wiki (kale) from the farm, and on other occasions, his wife takes it to the market. Between July and September, his net income from kale alone was US$ 300. He gets far much more income from vegetables than what he got from maize previously. In fact, he reveals that he had never had any surplus maize for sale. Now he earns income enough to buy food for his family. Apart from sukuma wiki, Suleiman also grows cowpea, capsicum, chili and he practices beekeeping.

The Kilimanjaro women’s group located in Ndavaya Location of Kinango District is now cultivating vegetables as a group income generating activity after being trained by the Agricultural extension officers. The group has 17 members. They grow various vegetables such as sukuma wiki, spinach, capsicum, eggplant, tomato, amaranth and African nightshade.

Elizabeth Tawa and Nyevu Faura, the group leaders explain that members train every new member on the skills they got from the extension officers.

Members have started enjoying the fruits of the training: food on the table and cash for other family needs. “In an area that receives maize rations from the government, we now have vegetables to eat with Ugali, unlike before where we could only make porridge from the maize flour because we had no vegetables”, says, Nyevu.

Mrs Tawa estimates that the group can make over US$ 600 per month from the sale of vegetables. In addition, each member is able to make on average US$ 100 per month.

They have used the proceeds from vegetables to buy school uniforms and books for their children. According to the two women, vegetables cultivation is more profitable than maize both in terms of labour input and yield. The group members were also taught how to dry and preserve the vegetables for the dry seasons.

Mr Mofat Chimega, a member of the Mwangaza Self Help Group is also enjoying the profits of vegetable farming. Chimega quit his job as mechanic in Kilifi at the Kenyan coast, to return home in Kasemeni Location of Kinango District, to join in the vegetable farming. This was after he saw his mother, a member of the group making good returns from a small vegetable plot that she had.

Mwangaza Self Help Group started in the year 2008 with only 24 members but increased to 60 early this year after they started growing vegetables. They were trained by extension officers from the Kinango District Ministry of Agriculture.

The group benefited from a water pan constructed by the Ministry of Water and irrigation in the area. They have planted sukuma wiki, spinach, capsicum, tomatoes and egg plant. Each group member was allocated a 10ft X 10 ft plot at the group site near the water pan. “Exotic species fetch better prices than the indigenous species at the market, and are in greater demand”, Chimega points out. “We sell them at the market in Taru, Samburu and Katolani”, he says. The group was also provided with seeds and pesticides by the extension officers.

In addition to the group plots, each member has an individual farm from which they earn more income. This season alone (May – July, 2010), Chimega earned US$120 from vegetables alone, in addition to what was consumed by his family of six.