Kenya
August 5, 2015
Dotted across villages in the Kirinyaga area of central Kenya are model farms comprising of healthy stands of maize, banana, pumpkin and other crops, carrying the promise of bountiful harvests. These farms are run by smallholder farmers who have benefitted from access to productivity-enhancing improved seed and other planting materials, as well as fertilizer and agronomic advice. They are a stark contrast to some neighboring farms, where the stands of the maize crop are dry and withered, with small or no ears (cobs). As such, they stand out as ‘living’ advertisements of the benefits of adopting this approach. Many of these farmers confirm that their peers have enquired about the source of the planting materials, and they have been directed to suppliers who are based right in their localities. These suppliers, known as Village-based Advisors or VBAs in these communities, are providing a much-needed link in the farm inputs value chain, vastly reducing distances farmers have to travel to buy these inputs. In the past, long distances to markets (and associated transport costs) have been identified as a major obstacle to access and adoption of improved farm inputs by Africa’s smallholders farmers.
The VBA approach has been piloted by Farm Inputs Promotions (FIPS)-Africa, a non-profit set up to demonstrate and deploy new farming technologies. Through a combination of village-level, on-farm demonstrations and promotion of small seed and fertilizer test packs, FIPS-Africa encourages farmers to try out new crop productivity approaches. After a successful first season, farmers are convinced of the benefits and purchase commercial size packs of these inputs themselves. FIPS-Africa has set up a number of partnerships with domestic commercial seed and fertilizer companies, who provide these small packs at their own cost.
Susan Muthoni, a maize farmer, is very happy with the performance of her crop this year. She planted a new variety – WH 403 – produced and marketed by Western Seed Company. This is the second time she is planting this variety and she likes it for its early maturity, high yields and the fact that she can feed the maize leaves to her livestock, even as she waits for the ears to mature fully. This is because the variety’s leaves remain green even as it matures, whereas those of other varieties dry up.
Last season she obtained 8 (90-kilo) bags from her small parcel of land, and expects to get the same this year, despite the patchy rainfall that the area receives. This harvest is four times greater than what she previously got after planting farm-saved seed or that of other unimproved crop varieties. This represents an increase from 0.75 tons per ha to 3 tons per ha. Average maize yields in sub-Saharan Africa are less than 1 ton per ha, making millions of smallholders net food buyers in the period between each harvest, the ‘hungry season’.
Muthoni first planted, on a trial basis, three small packs of 25 kernels each of the WH 403 on a small portion of her farm after being convinced to try them out by Hellen Nyaga, her area VBA. With nothing to lose, she planted the maize right before the main rainy season, and also followed Nyaga’s advice on how to plant the seed in rows, measuring the spaces between each seed with a short string provided by FIPS as part of the starter pack. She also bought a small pack of fertilizer, which she applied as she was advised by the VBA.
This harvest means that Muthoni will have more than enough food for her family for the rest of the year. She plans to sell the extra maize and use the money to buy goats which she will rear and later sell at a profit.
Her excitement is palpable, and this optimism is replicated across the locality as thousands of farmers like Muthoni experience for themselves the benefits of adopting improved crop varieties, using small amounts of fertilizer and planting their crops in rows. Through this approach farmers are lifting themselves out of poverty, and proving that smallholder agriculture does not have to be a risky and worthless venture.
For some, this is the first time that they have seen such healthy and prolific maize crops; having planted only farm-saved seed all their lives. Farmers like Millicent Wanja.
“Every day I get out of my house to look at this maize, and I feel happy and fortunate because I will have enough to eat,” she confirms.
“I advise my neighbors to go to Gichobi to buy the seed too. Next season I want to plant more… I will buy two (2-kilo) bags of seed.” She refers to Charles Gichobi, her local VBA.
Wanja has planted KH 500-43A, a new drought-tolerant maize variety developed through joint efforts by AGRA, the national research agency – Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) – and global maize research organization, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). KH 500-43A is marketed by Dryland Seed Company and other national seed producers. Varieties like WH 403 and KH 500-43A are giving smallholder farmers a lifeline in the fight against climate change-induced erratic rainfall and high temperatures which often result in total crop losses for farmers who do not use seed of ‘climate-ready’ varieties such as these.
“FIPS is encouraged by these initial results, and direct improvements to smallholder farmers’ lives and circumstances,” says Paul Seward, FIPS-Africa Director and Founder.
“Once they see how the trial maize crop works, farmers are going out and buying commercial-size seed packs, usually two or four kilos. This is good for our VBAs, and our seed company partners who now have new customers.”
Initially, commercial seed and fertilizer companies were skeptical that this approach would work but over time they have been convinced by the new demand created from the small (50 gm) seed and 1-kilo fertilizer packs.
FIPS-Africa is working to stimulate demand for quality seed and fertilizer, and providing crucial “last mile” access to farmers in remote areas, whom commercial seed and fertilizer companies would otherwise find hard to reach. On its part, AGRA is improving the capacity of hundreds of local seed companies like Western Seed and Dryland Seed, to build up their capacity to scale up production of quality seed that is well-adapted to localized smallholder farmers’ agro-ecologies and meets local taste preferences.
Initiatives such as these hold great promise for transforming entire rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa into thriving breadbaskets, but need crucial investments and interest from both public and private partners.
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