Agriculture in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) is constrained by low annual rainfall. This calls for the diversification of the rural economies to reduce reliance on climate-sensitive agricultural practices, through the adoption of drought-tolerant crop varieties, empowerment of rural farmers to become more resilient to climate change and building the capacity of smallholder farmers to access local and international organized markets.
In response to the challenges facing the counties of Kitui, Embu, Tharaka Nithi and Machakos, Cereal Growers Association partnered with Christian Aid to implement a Cereal Value Chain Enhancement Program (CVEP) in these Counties. The program targeted to work with at least 2500 smallholder farmers to commercialize sorghum and green gram value chains in order to boost their resilience to climate change, to improve food security and increase household incomes for these farmers.
The program took a trifold approach. The first approach was to train and build the capacity of lead farmers who would act as the early adopters and ambassadors of climate-smart agriculture technologies beyond the project period. The second approach was the collaboration between CGA and county extension teams in the implementation of planned project activities. The third approach was to foster strategic partnerships with various value chain actors. Among these stakeholders were input suppliers, financial service providers, output buyers, and policymakers. These approaches are critical in enhancing the sustainability of CVEP interventions beyond the project period.
Overall, CVEP interventions were geared towards strengthening their adaptive capacity so that they could become more food and economic security. This was done through training on good agricultural practices (GAP) and Climate Smart Agriculture (CAS), aimed at increasing sorghum and green gram productivity thus enhancing smallholder farmers’ access to structured markets.
Amuka Community Based Organization (Amuka CBO) is one of the farmer groups that CGA worked with in Makueni county. This CBO has a current membership of 80 farmers drawn from smaller farmer groups. Before CVEP interventions, the farmers grew maize, pigeon peas, dolichos and a bit of sorghum. The farmers, however, faced serious challenges. Among these challenges were low farm productivity and the lack of capacity to access properly organized markets. Because these farmers sold their produce individually, they were highly exploited by middlemen.
All this has changed, thanks to interventions by the CVEP project. Through CGA field officers, farmers in Embu, Makueni, Kitui and Tharaka Nithi received GAP and CSA training. This training helped to boost their productivity and edged them a step closer to accessing structured markets like supplying sorghum to the East Africa Malting Limited (EAML). This was because they could now meet the required quality and quantity requirements of sorghum for this through aggregation.
Boniface Mutua who is the Chairman of the CBO produced 2,250 kilograms of sorghum, the highest in Amuka CBO in the last season. He had previously grown maize but the production on his 2-acre piece of land kept dwindling. After being trained on GAP and CAS and the sorghum value chain, Boniface took up the challenge. “I used to grow maize and would get only 6 bags an acre but after learning about sorghum, I produced a total of 25 bags from my two acres. The money I received from sorghum is five times more than what I used to get from maize”, said Boniface.
Stanley Nzuvi is also a member of Amuka CBO and a retired teacher who made a shift to sorghum farming in last year’s short rains season. “I was adamant at first but when the CGA field officer in this region assured me that there was I ready market, I decided to give it a try”, explained Stanley. He harvested 1,104 kilograms of sorghum and plans to grow more in the coming season. “I will apply everything I have learned in the training with Kasonzo of CGA to triple my production this season”, he says.
Rebecca Maiwa is another member of Amuka CBO. She was hesitant and did not grow sorghum in the previous season but after seeing her neighbors make up to five times more than she made from the 18 bags of maize she harvested from her two acres of land, she has already bought sorghum seeds and is awaiting the rains for her to plant this season. “With the training, I have received from CGA through the CVEP program, I hope to produce not less than 2,700 kilograms of sorghum from my two acres.” Says Rebecca.
Gakiuma CBO is another group that CGA worked with in the CVEP program in Tharaka Nithi County. The group has a total of 108 active members and was formed as a way of addressing the challenges of marketing their produce. Even after coming together, the group could still not aggregate enough quantities for markets like EAML. This was because of their low-quality average production of 3-5 bags of sorghum an acre. Through CVEP interventions, the members have fully embraced GAP and CAS their current average production has improved to between 8 and 12 bags an acre. With an expected total production of 60 tonnes, in the upcoming season, the group is thinking beyond the EAML market to value addition and marketing their own sorghum products.
Patricia Kanyua a member of the group has a new-found smile thanks to CVEP interventions. “I harvested 630 kilograms of sorghum and was able to finally fix my teeth and clear all my debts”, says Patricia.
From a previous farm gate price of 28 shillings per kilogram, coupled with low production for sorghum the group is reaping the benefits of their training and better prices of 32 shillings per kilogram ensuing from aggregating their harvest.
According to the group’s Chairlady Ms. Purity Gatiiria, the program has earned the community great social impact. This has ranged from more young people going to school because their parents can now easily pay their school fees, visible better housing in the neighborhood in addition to more young people gaining employment through sorghum farming. She also says the women have become more financially empowered and a lot of them now have active bank accounts. management especially for women in the region. “The economy in the region has improved greatly, the small businesses are definitely doing better now”, She says.
CGA through CVEP has also worked with Igambang’ombe Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd (IMCOS) in Tharaka Nithi County. The cooperative is currently at a membership of 767 and is working around the sorghum, pigeon peas and green gram value chains. The cooperative facilitates access to credit for farmers within the region. Through CVEP interventions, members of the cooperative have accessed training on GAP and CAS which has greatly contributed to improved crop productivity for its farmer members.
Jointly aggregating and marketing their produce has helped IMCOS’ farmer members get better prices. IMCOS has also gone a step further in packaging and selling green grams and pigeon peas locally and in other counties. While they would normally sell a kilogram of green grams at only 53 shillings, they are now able to sell a packaged kilogram of the same at up to 150 shillings.
Patrick Kirema, the chairman of the cooperative attributes the current success of the cooperative to the interventions by CVEP. “Through the CGA led training, our members have been able to produce more and sell more with us.” He says. “I am confident that we will eventually get into sorghum milling and value addition so that we are not only relying on one county. “He Concludes.
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