High returns give sorghum growing a new lease of life

Last season, Samuel Mwasingo, a farmer in Mwatate, Taita Taveta County, responded to the Ministry of Agriculture’s appeal to farmers, and put 24 of his 45-acre farm on sorghum.

He did not regret. At the time of harvesting, a buyer showed up and bought the 75 bags he had harvested at Sh30 a kilogramme, 12 shillings higher than the price they had been promised by the buyer the ministry had arranged for them.

“I sold a 90kg bag for Sh2,700, which was not bad,” says the farmer who after pocketing more than Sh200,000 from the produce, plans to double his acreage for the crop this year to 33 acres.

“The returns are good given the low input costs associated with the crop and its drought resistance,” he said in a telephone interview.

The ministry has embarked on an aggressive campaign to educate farmers on the benefits of sorghum farming in the Coast region.

Last year alone it supplied 143 tonnes of gandam variety seeds to farmers valued at Sh21.4 million, according to provincial director of agriculture Ms Phoebe Odhiambo.

“We worked with an average of 2,000 farmers in Taita Taveta, Kwale, Kilifi and Lamu counties and put the crop on 5,800 hectares and this year we are targeting more than 7,000 hectares,” said Ms Odhiambo.

While more than 26,436 bags were harvested, they expect this output to increase by more than 20 per cent.

The ministry, she said, is educating farmers on the benefits of planting sorghum instead of maize, which does not do well in semi arid areas.

“The crop is drought resistant and requires only 30 per cent of the water maize needs, matures in three months and the output is high.

If, for instance, a farmer in these areas plants both crops in one hectare each, sorghum will produce about 10 bags while maize will give a maximum output of five bags,” she said.

One of the challenges they are facing however is that of farmers’ hesitation to plant the crop despite the benefits, which she attributes to some cultural beliefs that sorghum is for the poor.

“But what we are asking them is that if a farmer like Mwasingo is now earning more than 10 times more from his farm, is this really a poor man’s crop?”

According to experts in the agricultural sector, lack of sufficient market in the past and the changing dietary habits where higher priority has been given to maize as the staple food, are partly to blame for the low level of production of sorghum.

Besides offering extension services to farmers, the ministry also links them with the market, Ms Odhiambo said.