Sorghum is steadily becoming one of the highest potential cereals in Kenya, especially in the semi-arid areas. This is due to its drought-resistant nature and the availability of a ready market. East Africa Maltings Limited (EAML) places its current annual demand at 40,000 MT. Out of the 40,000MT, only about 15,000 MT is being sourced from Kenyan growers.
Despite this readily available market and stable prices, smallholder farmers are still unable to take advantage of the available sorghum market and the accruing stable prices.
This is attributed to factors such as low levels of production volumes and productivity resulting from poor agronomic practices and limited access to inputs and finance; Poor quality produce resulting from poor access to storage infrastructure and limited awareness of market requirements; High post-harvest losses – in the case of sorghum have been reported due to poor storage, fungi attack and limited agribusiness capacity to participate effectively in structured markets; Poor coordination of value chain actors as well as lack of inclusion in the value chain.
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It is in this regard that Cereal Growers Association through Farm to Market Alliance project (FtMA) is supporting smallholder farmers to; access timely inputs, access finance and insurance, access to post-harvest handling and storage facilities and linkage to the sorghum market.
FtMA is an initiative spearheaded by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) through a consortium of end-to-end value chain actors comprising of the following global members: The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), GrowAfrica, Rabobank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Yara International, Syngenta and Bayer.
In Kenya, the program is being carried out in 8 counties; Migori, Homabay, Kisumu, Siaya, Busia, Nakuru, Meru and Tharaka Nithi and targeting 100,000 farmers by 2021. We are creating sustainable partnerships that enable the joint implementation of service and product provision to farmers. Some of the companies we are working with include, Syngenta, Bayer, Agro Z, Bell Industries, among others. CGA is also working with microfinance institutions, insurance companies and produce aggregators.
In preparation for the long rains 2019, CGA has been working closely with all project partners through organized trade fairs to train farmers on good agronomic practices. These training and trade fairs are aimed at equipping farmers with the know-how that will help them produce more in the long rain season. The trade fairs also provided a platform for farmers to buy quality and certified seeds, fertilizers and agrochemicals.
At the same time, aggregators got a chance to discuss farmer contracting for sorghum. A total of 15,000 farmers were contracted last year and we are envisioning that more will be contracted this year to meet the 25,000MT demand deficit.
Ultimately the aim for CGA is to help contracted farmers to produce more, increase their incomes and eventually live better lives.
this is a great idea which can help farmers in the rural areas of Kenya especially those living in the ASALs. if this project could spread to the lower eastern regions of machakos, kitui and makueni would be of help to the farmers there. insufficient rainfall here is a challenge and if farmers could get a drought resistant crop like sorghum and market for the produce will definitely change lives. being an agronomist i would like to be part of the team that spearheads sensitization of farmers in those regions.
Thank you for your comment, Samson. Please get in touch with us on email info@cga.co.ke with your contact details.