Shehe Bonaya comes from a community that is predominantly pastoralist, but over the years, the farmer has shifted to crop farming as he seeks to diversify his source of income, thanks to an initiative by National Irrigation Authority (NIA), Yara East Africa and the County Government.
Mr Bonaya is one of many beneficiaries of a participatory programme that has seen growers in Hola, Tana River County get farming inputs and cash to grow crops, becoming both food and financially independent.
Through the programme, farmers like Mr Bonaya have been able to harvest a wide range of crops and ploughed back the profit for the next cycle.
“We are now able to meet our planting expenses without necessarily relying on banks for expensive loans or donors for the farming inputs,” said Mr Bonaya.
Mr James Kirimi, a manager at the Tana Irrigation Scheme said over 1,000 farmers have benefited from the waters at the scheme where different varieties of crops have been planted.
These include seed maize, cotton, onions, and tomatoes among others.
He said the availability of the right inputs has seen farmers over the years increase their yields, encouraging others to join the venture.
And to ensure that farmers get maximum returns, Mr Kirimi said they have been conducting trials on crops over the years, which has seen them give farmers seeds that are high yielding.
“Previously we had three varieties of maize, but we now have 11 that we have put on trials. Out of these, we select the ones that yield the most and give them to farmers,” said Mr Kirimi.
He added that farmers harvest as high as 25 bags of maize from their small plots, but they are targeting a high of 30 bags.
At the Bura Irrigation Scheme, Peter Orua, the manager said farmers, mainly contracted by Kenya Seed Company have put over 1,500 acres under rice with another substantial acreage under maize crop.
Rice is not native to this region, but it was introduced after trials indicated that the crop can perform better under the prevailing conditions.
According to Mr Orua, cotton was the main crop in the region in the early years of the scheme. However, this has so far changed with growers cultivating a wide range of crops currently.
The manager said farmers earned Sh60 million in 2016/2017, Sh15 million in 2017/18, Sh28 million in 2018/2019 and Sh39 million in 2019/20 seasons, through seed maize contracted farming by Kenya Seed.
On average, farmers earn Sh200 million annually from the production of horticulture crops such as watermelon, tomatoes and bulb onions, Sh150 million from rice, maize, pulses and cotton production
The NIA provides water to farmers at the scheme and in return they pay a one-off charge for each given season, providing the much-needed resource in one of Kenya’s driest regions. The availability of water has seen more farmers diversify from livestock rearing to crop farming.
One such farmer is Zachariah Kuyo, who is now doing crop farming for the first time at the irrigation scheme.
Mr Kuyo has planted about three acres of cotton and is expecting good returns from the crop in the current season.
“I am doing farming for the first time here at the scheme and from the look of things, this is a good season for me as I expect to get at least two tonnes of lint from this crop,” said Mr Kuyo.
The farmer noted that there is a ready market for their crop with Kitui Ginnery eyeing the crop for Sh50 a kilo.
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