Smallholder Farmers Strengthen Food Security in Kitui County

Growers trained to improve production, connect to markets, increase sales

Tabitha Kilonzo, a 57-year-old mother of five, is one of the 255 members of the Kwa Mikuyu CBO Hub who grow sufficiently high quality sorghum and green grams to meet market standards, thanks to Cereal Growers Association (CGA) training, which began in 2018. Tabitha has seen her harvest increase since the intervention of CGA’s Cereal Value Chain Enhancement (CVEP) Project. Before joining the Kwa Mikuyu CBO at Kwa Vonza Location in Kitui County in 2018, Tabitha had no clue on what it takes to do farming as a business.  She always registered losses from her farm. “I used to do farming but the yields were always low since I didn’t know the importance of using certified seeds and fertilizer during planting. I used to get seeds from my previous harvest” said Tabitha

The CVEP Project exposed her to the knowledge of conservation agriculture, aggregation, and importance of diversification in farming. The project also created linkage to input suppliers through the hub and gave access to market information. Before CVEP intervention, Tabitha would only harvest 1-3 bags of maize per acre. Now she harvests an average of 8-15bags per acre. A very good improvement from her previous records.

Through CGA, Tabitha affirms that she acquired important skills on appropriate farming techniques, and she confirms that the linkages she got with agronomists and other agricultural experts has been of great help. The exchange visits at Kabati helped Tabitha acquire critical knowledge on doing pure stand cropping, planting drought tolerant varieties and diversification. “I harvested 4 bags of sorghum, 2 bags of cowpeas and 15 bags of maize. I never imagined I would be able to harvest such big quantities from my small piece of land,” said Tabitha. Through farming as a business, Tabitha has laid down personal development plans which include; building up a family house, educating her children and doing savings through a Sacco.

Cereal Growers Association (CGA) with Christian Aid’s support trains groups of small-scale farmers in Makueni, Kitui, Embu and Tharaka Nithi to boost their production, minimize post-harvest losses, and improve their marketing skills through market intelligence, contract farming and negotiation of market prices with output buyers. Across the 4 counties, CGA has trained 2,548 farmers in 8 hubs to improve their production and connect to markets.

“I thank God for CGA’s project. The project has taught me a lot. When I remember where I was a few years back and now, I can clearly say CGA’s project has impacted my life and benefitted me a lot”, said Tabitha. Members of the Kwa Mikuyu CBO combine their sorghum and green grams production from their farm and sell in bulk to Output buyers fetching a higher price than when they sold their harvests individually. However, the positive impact does not stop there. The members also receive professional guidance from high qualified and trained agronomists to enable them earn a decent livelihood from farming.

Through improvements in farming practices, linking to markets and training in business and financial services, 2548 farmers participating in the project made sales totaling over Kshs 8,206,210 through the hubs and a Kshs 867,720 value input sold through the hub. In addition a total Kshs. 300,000 value of mechanization services done through the hub.