Sorghum farmers in Murang’a have lauded the partnership between the county government and the East African Breweries in effort to boost returns on investment.
We caught up with The Green Life women group in Gikindu happily chanting traditional planting songs, sorghum seeds in one hand and a planting stick on the other.
Christine Wambui, the group’s youthful chairperson observes that they chose to specialize in sorghum farming as the crop is easy to manage and with the county government’s partnership their lives are bound to change.
“We used to grow sorghum individually but the returns were minimal as our bargaining power was low and that is why we decided to purchase a farm and grow the crop collectively as a group,” she said.
She added: “growing sorghum is easy as it requires little maintenance and less startup capital and can be grown by the young people, the middle aged and even the retired ones,”.
She notes that they grow the sorghum organically as is required by the Kenya Breweries for producing quality alcoholic beverages.
Wambui avers that the partnership will also rid of brokers who have been taking advantage of the farmers by buying the crop at Sh 22 per kilogram.
EABL will buy the crop at Sh48 per kilogram.
Echoing similar sentiments Mary Wambui another farmer says that they expect a bountiful harvest in three months and this will positively impact on their lives economically and socially.
“Initially we would grow the crop without technical support but now we have been provided with quality seeds from KARLO and this will yield high returns as its management requires low cost and besides being a fast-maturing crop,” she states.
The farmers note that the only challenge they face is invasion of monkeys but they are trying to counter it by burning pepper and cow dung which deters the invaders.
They however urge the county government to provide a permanent solution to the menace.
EABL Director Joel Kimani confirms that they have partnerships with all the county governments where sorghum is grown so as to ensure production of standard quality crop.
“We have 45,000 farmers across the country who give us a reliable supply of 60,000 tonnes of sorghum every year,” he says.
The EABL also provides extension services to the farmers by providing farm inputs and other support so that the farmers can produce and make maximum yields of sorghum per acre grown.
By Florence Kinyua
