Migori County has a high potential for production of a variety of traditional crops but that is yet to be exploited.
Farmers in the region have not fully tapped the available potential in growing crops like millet, cassava, sorghum, groundnuts, banana, sweet potatoes, sun-flower, soya beans, passion fruits and traditional vegetables
In contrast with other regions in the country, farmers in Migori County have lagged behind in diversifying to indigenous food and cash crop production for a long time.
Instead, they have stuck in growing maize, tobacco and sugarcane rather than cultivating the traditional food and cash crops, which in the early days were the darling diet of our forefathers.
From early 2005, attempts to entice local farmers to embrace the farming of the drought/disease- resistant crops have all hit a snag with people, influenced by the love for the Western churned modern diets, expressly ignoring the advice of the old-age adage.
One-time coordinator at a Non-Governmental Organization, Action Aid Mr. Lucas Mosenda Chacha tried his best to influence farmers to migrate from wholly relying on maize and tobacco production in Kuria land but failed miserably when he was dismissed as a dreamer.
Chacha, now a County Executive Committee (CEC) member in charge of Agriculture in the County Government of Migori, had all the resources from the NGO to change the dynamics of food and cash crop production in the area but the locals ignored his campaigns of sensitizing farmers to embrace the old African food and cash crops.
The official spent millions of shillings to buy farmers seeds for sun-flower, Langstroth beehives, took farmers to seminars and workshops and even organized tours for farmers on exchange programmes to other parts of the country, but all ended in vain.
While the region’s farmers have stuck to growing western crops now referred to as genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the dilemma at the moment is the emergence of many diseases and pests that have compromised production of the Western cultured crops, both food and cash crops
“The end result has been acute food shortage and a rise in human diseases due to adaptation to bad lifestyle in people’s dining rooms,” claims Chacha.
Migori County Government Senior Nutritionists, Caroline Odete, says it is important that people eat more traditional foods like Ugali made from millet, sorghum and cassava flours or a mix of all these served with a host of traditional vegetables.
It is unfortunate that most of these foods are not served in many eateries frequented by the young people across the County and in Kenya as a whole. The young generation today would not differentiate between millet and sorghum and would out rightly dismiss ugali made out of these as ‘mud.’
Health experts credit these traditional food crops as being very significant in allowing human beings to live a healthy life. They come with part of the essential vitamins that human beings require to enjoy a recommended diet.
“These crops have been proven medically to work positively towards reducing of weights, BMI and high blood pressure. Additionally, millet is lower in calories compared to rice, making them an excellent choice for reducing calories intake and achieving weight loss goals,” confirmed Odete during press interview KNA recently.
Versatile and diverse, millet grains are used in dishes around the world, including flatbreads, porridge, drinks, pilafs, bread and more. Millets is also used to brew alcoholic beverages, such as millet beer.
But coupled with the stinging climate change, Migori County is now experiencing low food production because the current crops grown are not hardy enough to resist the unpredictable weather like the African indigenous crops that remain resistant to all a variety of weather manifests.
According to Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research (KALRO), it is estimated that Kenya produces less than 100,000 metric tons of sorghum, millet and cassava every year with a growth of only 0.01 per cent annually.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) also places Kenya at a very low position in the list of Countries Worldwide in terms of sorghum, millet and cassava production.
Calculated further down for Migori County, the data has been running below expectation despite the opportunities that manifests in the good soil around and the amount of rainfalls received within the region that are favorable for these indigenous African crops.
Chacha says that many of the County People have despised growing millet, sorghum and cassava, apparently because their meal of Ugali is not loved especially by the young generation, compared to the white Ugali made from maize flour.
And the biggest problem that has been identified to be hindering the production of these crops is the culture of the local people, who view them as crops grown by the older generations who have chosen to remain conservatives in this line of farming.
“The current generation of farmers feels the crops have no place among the highly loved food and cash crops in the modern times thus their low acceptance among the people in Migori and in Kenya in general.
However as from last year there have been some good signs that people are now slowly returning to growing these crops even as the number of those relying on the diet made out of the indigenous crops has been increasing within the region.
Efforts to reclaim the lost farming trend of growing these crops have been on top gears, championed by agricultural experts from the Ministry of Agriculture.
In the recent months, the Ministry of Agriculture has been interacting with farmers through supplying them with seeds for these indigenous crops alongside seeds for the cultured ones
Agricultural extension field officer have been working overboard training farmers and registering them for free seed subsidies with a view to promoting farming of the indigenous food and cash crops within the region.
To date, the region has seen an increase in hectares of land under Cassava, Millet and Sorghum crops. Mr. Peter Olengo, says he has so far cultivated five acres of Sorghum, courtesy of a multi-million County Programme to jumpstart traditional crop production in the area.
Like Olengo, Mrs. Turphosa Otieno, from Rongo Sub-County, has also been busy growing millet in her 2 acre farm, an activity that has earned her good dividend.
“What I have earned from my farm is encouraging and I want many to delve in millet growing which is a reliable venture for good income,” she said recently in Migori town.
By George Agimba
