At least 16,043 small scale farmers in Makueni County are reaping benefits from Sh785 million under the Kenya Cereal Enhancement Programme-Climate Resilient Agricultural Livelihoods (KCEP-CRAL) aimed at reducing rural poverty and food insecurity of the farmers.
The programme empowers farmers by subsidising agricultural farm inputs including seeds, fertilizer and also training them on the best post-harvest management practices, insurance and saving wallet.
The farmers, in groups and spread across the county, are involved in planting cereals like maize, beans, green grams and sorghum using Conservation Agriculture (CA) technology that conserves soil water and enhances biodiversity of plants in ASAL areas.
“16,043 farmers in Makueni, Kibwezi East, Mbooni, Kilome, Kibwezi West constituencies have benefitted from farm input subsidy, trainings on control weeds and pesticides and post-harvest practices,” said KCEP-CRAL County Desk Officer Mr. Jonathan Munyao at Kathozweni on Thursday during a Field Visit by European Union (EU) delegation.
He said farmers were registered under electronic E-voucher scheme where a farmer contributes a deposit of 10 per cent of the agricultural inputs via a designated bank in the first year and the programme pays 90 per cent of the total amount through the public-private producer partnership.
“In the second year, a farmer contributes 40 per cent and the third year they make a deposit of 60 per cent of the agricultural farm inputs and the programme tops up the remaining amounts respectively. They use a debit cards to swipe for inputs at the selected agro-vets or Agro-dealers in the area,” said Munyao.
He added that the smallholder farmers are mobilized and recruited by field extension workers in collaboration with other stakeholders in their particular 26 wards where they are funded for three consecutive years.
On value addition, Munyao said the farmers have been provided with hermetic bags for storage and also automatic weigh scale manual sieves and moisture meter in 43 shopping centres where they aggregate their farm produce for marketing.
“For example, a group of farmers in Kibwezi East aggregates sorghum and green grams that are bought by East African breweries and Spice World Company respectively,” said the county Desk Officer.
The five year programme that was started in 2018 in partnership with the Government of Kenya (GoK), EU and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Makueni County was supposed to end in September 2022. However, the project has been extended for the next two years.
The delegation was led by European Union (EU) Policy Officer for Sustainable Agri-food Systems and Fisheries international partnerships Nick Goetschalckx who were in the county to learn about the E-Voucher system and conservation agriculture that the small scale farmers were practising.
Goetschalckx said CA is the best way forward because the environments are changing and urged farmers to adopt the new farming system.
“CA is the best way to adopt, particularly because the political and climate environments are changing and things are becoming more difficult,” noted Goetschalckx.
“I am very impressed with what I have seen. It’s an inspiration to the farmers in this area and other regions,” added Goetschalckx.
KCEP-CRAL beneficiary Catherine Mbili from Kathonzweni ward lauded the programme for the subsidy of agricultural farm inputs adding that she has been able to provide nutritious food to her family besides generating income by selling the cereals.
“I am happy about this project. Since I joined the programme, I have been able to provide enough food for my family,” said Mbili, a graduate farmer after being funded for three years from 2018 and she has successfully sustained the farming up to now.
“I am generating income by selling the cereals locally and to some organization after doing value addition to the production,” she added.
Veronica Kioko from Wote/Nzui ward, a CA service provider, said the programme has benefited over 500 farmers in the ward by training them and tilling the lands using farm equipment.
“CA is the best farming practice that prevent soil erosion, the farmer spent less farm inputs like seeds and fertilizers on the planting furrows,” said Kioko.
She added that the crops planted on the furrows grew very strong, fast and would produce good yield because furrows conserve water for a long time.
By Ronald Rono and Patrick Nyakundi
