Extension officers shortage crippling maize farming

When Hellen Kirarei, 60, ditched the classroom chalk for the hoe, she joined the club of six-figure income earners.

For 36 years, Ms Kirarei has been a commercial farmer in Cheplaskei, Uasin Gishu, earning much more that she would have as a primary school teacher.

“I started growing maize on 20 acres in 1980 and driven by attractive returns, I expanded to 50 acres. But five years ago the maize started shelling losses,’’ Ms Kirarei told the Business Daily.

As the March planting season nears, Ms Kirarei is mulling reducing acreage under maize to cut on losses and only farm for domestic consumption.

She is not alone. Many farmers have abandoned maize for millet, bananas, potatoes, watermelons and other crops to avoid losses.

Farmers at Cheplaskei, one of the country’s leading maize production regions, attribute numerous factors ranging from erratic rainfall to fake seeds, lack of knowledge on best farming methods, declining soil fertility and unpredictable market for the low maize harvests.

“Before I could harvest an average of 30 bags per acre, but I can hardly manage 20 bags now. Soil fertility has continued to diminish yet we cannot access information on modern crop production techniques from agriculture officials as it was the case before,” said Ms Kirarei.

“I wonder why agriculture extension officers are no longer organising field work and demonstration centres to update us on modern crop production techniques. Is it that the government has no money or the policy was done away with?” she said.

Through extension officers, farmers are informed of new commercial crops, seed varieties, what fertiliser to use and when to use it, and the best crop management practises to apply for maximum yield.

Most of the agricultural extension officers have retired and the shortage is threatening to derail farming.

“An extension officer currently covers three to four locations unlike in the past when they were based at the sub-location, making it convenient to easily access information,” said Paul Lang’at, a private agricultural officer in the North Rift.

County governments inherited the few extension officers when agriculture was devolved. They are supposed to hire more.

Dr Cyril Cheruiyot, Uasin Gishu executive in charge of agriculture, said there is a shortage of extension officers in the Rift Valley.

“We have about 90 extension officers who are not enough to cover all the 47 wards and carry out demonstrations to train farmers on best farming methods,” he said.

The few still in service are mostly certificate holders from government agriculture training institutions and they are about to retire.

‘‘We need to replace retiring extension officer with degree holders who can train farmers on the latest crop production methods,” Dr Cheruiyot said.

Apart from the shortage of agriculture extension officers, the high cost of mechanised agriculture and inadequate funding to set up demonstration fields are some of the challenges bedevilling the maize sector, said Mr Lang’at.

He said the liberalisation of the maize sector about 10 years ago paved the way for the private sector to take up some of the extension services and many farmers cannot afford to pay a private agriculture expert.

March season

As maize farmers prepare their farms in readiness for the planting exercise starting March, their other biggest worry is the high cost of production.

The Kenya Seed Company recently increased maize seed prices from Sh1,500 per 10 kilogramme to Sh1,800. A 25 kilogramme bag now goes for Sh4,500 from Sh3,750.

The seed company has over the years released improved varieties but many farmers do not know about them and continue growing just one type.

Maize production in the Rift Valley declined due to attack by the Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) disease, erratic rains and farmers’ fear more losses this year.

In 2014, Kenya produced 39 million bags of maize, a drop from 40.7 million harvested the previous year.

“We fear that the production will drop further due to erratic climatic conditions and disease outbreak rendering maize farming an unprofitable investment,” said Peter Boit, from Kapkong in Uasin Gishu.

Already, Bomet Governor Isaac Ruto has urged farmers to cut reliance on maize in the wake of the disease that destroyed thousands of acres of maize.

But the Agriculture ministry is optimistic that the country will be food secure as all the commodities show surplus balances. As at December 31, the estimated national maize stocks stood at 14.3 million bags.

High soil acidity

The National Accepted Agriculture Input Access (NAAIA) and Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kari) attribute declining soil fertility to increased acidity levels caused by continued application of a common type of fertiliser.

“Continued use of DAP (Di-Ammonium Phosphate) on the same farm increases soil acidity and farmers should apply lime to neutralise it and reclaim fertility for increased crop production,” said Isaac Mulagoli, the former Pyrethrum Board of Kenya chief executive and soil expert.

It costs farmers Sh2,000 to carry out soil analysis at the Kenya Agriculture Research Institute (Kari) and Sh1,000 in public universities offering agriculture courses. The exercise can be done after three to five years.

Agriculture experts discourage application of DAP fertiliser in North Rift, Trans-Nzoia, Nandi and Elgeyo Marakwet due to high soil acidity levels.

But a majority of maize farmers like Ms Kirarei said the soil testing costs are too high and the laboratories are far.

Farmers are also reluctant to switch from DAP fertiliser due to lack of information on its risks. “No one has come to our farms to explain why DAP is harmful to the soil and in any case laboratories for soil testing are too far,” said Ms Kirarei.

“What is the point of continuing to grow maize when the returns are low, the market is flooded with fake seeds and after toiling we have no guarantee of getting a ready market?,” said Ms Kirarei.

Ms Kirarei is considering subdividing her farm on the Eldoret-Nakuru highway into commercial plots and shift to dairy farming and horticulture.

Wilson Rono is another maize farmer from Chepkumia in Nandi said who has scaled down cultivation of the maize due to drop in production. He wants the government to further subsidize farming to sustain agriculture as a profitable venture.

Maize farmers are accusing the government of neglecting them and giving a blind eye to cartels involved in illegal importation of agriculture products.

They said the government subsidised fertiliser selling at Sh2,000 per bag does little to lower cost of production or lure more into growing maize.

Maize farmers in the North Rift have been experiencing difficulties selling the grain due to lack of market with the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) being the main buyer of the produce.

Farmers said corrupt traders with political ties import cheap maize ahead of harvesting.

Most of the maize enter into the country from Uganda through Suam border in Trans-Nzoia and from Tanzania through Namanga border.
The cereals board is offering Sh2,300 per bag while middlemen are buying at Sh1,800.

“We sell to middlemen at throwaway prices because we have no option. This is the only way to avoid losses post-harvest,” said Ms Kirarei.
Implementation of East African Community common market protocol allows free trade in commodities including cereals.

It is cheaper to cultivate maize in Uganda due to its high soil fertility hence most farmers do not require fertiliser.

Some farmers are betting on the genetically-modified maize released for trials to boost production.

“Re-examining policy on genetically-modified organisms (GMO) will relieve the government of recurrent food crisis caused by crop failure due to erratic rainfall and repeated outbreak of disease like Maize Lethal Necrosis,” said Mathew Tenai, a maize farmer from Saos in Nandi.

He argues that if the government releases the GMO maize for cultivation, it will improve food production.