Industry

New rice growing technology promises to cut costs and boost Kenya’s production

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Kyshan Rao, an Indian engineer and farmer, shows Kenyans how to select good planting seeds in Ahero Irrigation Scheme. PHOTO | ANITA CHEPKOECH

Every planting season, rice farmers in Kenya flood their paddy fields, grow seedlings and then transplant them to new farms in bunches.

They then continue irrigating the fields until the crop turns yellow in readiness for harvesting. Despite the painstaking process, they mill losses as the high cost of water, fertiliser and pesticides eats into their profits.

In Ahero Irrigation Scheme, water cost alone stands at Sh18 million every year and coupled with high production costs and loss of allocated funds, like other schemes, it is struggling to meet rising demand of rice.

However, farmers are hoping for better times ahead following the introduction of a new rice-growing technology, Systems of Rice Intensification (SRI), that cuts the amount of water used in paddy fields by 40 per cent.

For years, Kenyan farmers have been using the traditional flooding method which is expensive and has condemned them to low yields.

Rice farmers also waste seeds as they only transplant overgrown seedlings, instead of only one young seedling. Professor Bancy Mati of the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology says growing rice under water is not a best practice.

“Rice is a water loving plant, but it does not have to grow in water like it is a swimming pool, that is wasting water,’’ she says.

Research on the rice-growing schemes across the country shows that the crop can do well in highly moist but not flooded soil, the agriculture expert says, adding that moist soil improves root growth and promoted diversity of aerobic soil organisms.

Following the research, the National Irrigation Board (NIB) in partnership with AgSri, an Indian organisation introduced the SRI method to help farmers save on water, labour costs and seeds while doubling yields.

The Indian firm is offering expertise, training, seeds, fertiliser and mechanical rice weeders.

Dr Sammy Lyatema, the NIB national chairman says the new method and mechanisation of major schemes including Perkerra, Ahero, West Kano and Bunyala will double production in the country from the current 983,694 bags per year. 

“Rice is the next staple food that will make Kenya food secure but its production has remained low. We are keen to improve on that,” says Dr Lyatema.

The SRI technology was introduced three years in Mwea Irrigation Scheme and has been adopted by half of the farmers.

In Ahero and West Kano schemes, over 100 farmers have been trained on the new system.

Agriculture experts are betting big on SRI to help Ahero farmers save up to Sh8 million annually on water costs.

Joel Tanui, the board’s regional manager notes that the SRI technology will help farmers increase production on paddy fields whose fertility levels have declined over the last 53 years.

“Statistically, we want to increase production from two tonnes per acre to over four tonnes per acre,” says Mr Tanui.

Rice consumption has grown over the years to 557,000 bags every month with production still at a paltry 82,000 bags every month, according to December, 2015 data from the Agriculture ministry.

The huge demand is satisfied with imports from Pakistan, Japan and other rice growing countries.

Major challenge

Mr Tanui is of the view that the major challenge has been high cost of inputs locally, specifically water costs, that give an upper hand to cheap imports in the market.

“But once we scale up production to 6,000 acres of land in Kisumu and another 15,000 acres in Mwea Irrigation Scheme and others like Bunyala, we will meet the demand and there won’t be need for imports,” he says.

The Kisumu region alone usually produces 25,000 metric tonnes and the ministry now hopes to scale it up to yield 60,000 metric tonnes.

Kyshan Rao, an Indian farmer and engineer says other than water saving, there are other benefits to SRI farming which will overhaul the traditional systems currently used by about 90 per cent of farmers.

The SRI technology has gained popularity in India among small and medium-scale farmers not just because it has high potential in increasing rice yield, but also because it uses fewer seeds.

Mr Rao is training Kenyan farmers on best farming practises such as transplanting single and young seedlings and use of a new high yielding seed variety, also called SRI.

“Before planting seeds, there is a way farmers can test their quality and ensure they plant the fully filled pods to prevent losses,” says Mr Rao.

Water is put in a container and salt added to make the water dense. To know how much salt is required, an egg or a sizeable potato is dipped into the water. If the potato sinks, Mr Rao says, more salt is added and stirred until the potato floats.

The seeds are then poured into the water. Floating is an indication of poor quality seeds that should be thrown away.

The sunken ones are washed thoroughly to remove salt and spread sparsely in the raised seeds beds.

“This test assures the farmer that the seedlings are of good quality hence increase chances of harvesting more produce,” adds Mr Rao.

With the seed verification method and transplanting of only one seed per space, a farmer uses only five kilogrammes of seeds per acre unlike the traditional method which uses up to 20 kilogrammes in the same acreage.

Quality seeds testing process according to Prof Mati should be a common practice for both systems. The expert says the difference between the conventional and SRI method land preparation is the same.

Land preparation

Land is first cleared of grass and bushes then flooded to soak and soften the soil for three to seven days.

The farm is then ploughed with a tractor disc before the soil is mixed under water by the tractor in a process called Rotavita. Farmers then use oxen plough to harrow the land and level it. Some do it manually.

Excess water is then drained to a porridge-like state before planting is done.

“Land preparation is tedious often taking a farmer one week to 10 days to complete,” she says.

The difference in the traditional and SRI methods is in the preparation of nurseries whereby while with the former seeds are planted under water and in the SRI system seeds are place on raised seedbeds which are slightly wet. In the traditional method, seeds take 21 days to be transplanted but in SRI, it takes between eight to 12 days.

A single seedling is also transplanted at each space on a wet but not flooded ground unlike the traditional method whereby farmers plant a handful of seedlings clamped together under water.

Spacing in the SRI system is even, unlike in the alternative method where farmers transplant seedlings randomly.

Prof Mati says rice is a grass plant hence should be transplanted early before the seed completely disappears to ensure healthy growth.

Transplanting rice seedlings early and carefully helps plants resume their growth in the field without reducing their potential for higher yields by harvest time.

In the NIB programme, farmers will also access machines that mark even spacing in square patterns of at least 25 centimetres apart.

The wide spacing and pattern permits more growth of roots and tillers (branches) penetration of more sunlight that promotes photosynthesis (production of food).

“Unlike maize, rice produces shoots called tillers. One rice plant is all you need and many tillers. When you plant only one seedling in a space, then it tillers better because it’s getting more nutrients. It’s those tillers that will yield rice afterwards,’’ says Prof Mati.

“Seedlings tiller in the 15th day but one cannot see with the naked eye. We don’t need to keep waiting for a month, they (farmers) can transplant between eight to 12 days.”

Line planting also allows room for farmers to use a weeder machine instead of manual uprooting of the unwanted plants.

“We have new weeder machines, locally made, that help farmers save on the cost of labour. The weeders pull out weeds and bury them in the ground hence they do not grow again. With this, one person can weed an acre of farm in a day that is usually done by 12 people manually,” says Mr Tanui, emphasising that it cuts down on the cost of labour.

Julius Otieno, a farmer at the Ahero scheme says he has tried the new method and it is working well.

‘‘Crops do not compete for fertiliser. People doubted the new SRI seeds, but when they saw my yield double, they desired to plant it,” he adds.

The SRI seeds are heavy and don’t break easily like the usual varieties. The usual 90 kilogramme bag of seeds weighs about 100 to 110 kilogrammes for the SRI variety.

Sensitising farmers

Mr Tanui says instead of Indian farmers coming to train more Kenyan farmers, the board plans to send growers to India to learn how the SRI system works.

“Since we started sensitising farmers, they are very excited about it. But the pilot project only took in 100 farmers ,” says the manager.

The SRI method was developed in 1983 by the French Jesuit Father Henri de Laulanié in Madagascar but its spread was obscured by previous practices.

In Kenya, rice is mainly grown in the major irrigation schemes. Beside irrigated rice, upland and Nerica rice varieties are grown in several parts of the country.

Owing to increased irrigation support by both the national and county governments, achieved area increased to 31,860 hectares with production of about 983,000 bags last year, according to Agriculture ministry statistics.