Kitui farmers hope for better yields through moisture technology

Kitui farmers are conducting trials for a new crop moisture retention technology in a bid to end food insecurity.

The effort is a collaboration between the county government and senior pastor at Lucky Summer Baptist Chapel in Nairobi, Dr Euticauls Wambua, on behalf of humanitarian NGO Hungarian Baptist Aid.

Wambua is coordinating trials of a new crop moisture retention Agrooter technology among farmers from Kitui and parts of Machakos counties.

Agrooter is a small greyish cylindrical and hollow product made of clay in the shape of a new moon, which retains water for a long time.

While receiving the pastor in his office, Kitui Agriculture CEC Stephen Kimwele said his office is open to technologies and innovations that would end the vicious cycle of famine and food insecurity that has dogged the county for years.

Kimwele said any genuine organisation and individuals with an agenda to end food insecurity were welcome as famine has been a thorn in the flesh of county administration for long as it struggles to feed its people.

“We are supporting our development partners. We 100 per cent welcome anything that is beneficial to our farmers,” Kimwele said on Thursday.

He told the cleric that his visit to the county agricultural office to introduce Agrooter project could not have come at a better time as the new county administration was settling down and putting things in order.

“Your explanation that the technology stores water makes it ideal for our area. It would work very well here since our soils do not retain water for long. Soon after the rains our area dries up very fast,” Kimwele said.

He said there was a need to properly sensitise farmers on the importance of Agrooter in farming for them to accept and own the technology. He noted the way projects are introduced had a bearing on their success.

“If no sensitisation, no public participation and inadequate background you are likely to end up facing some bottlenecks. I like the way you have started and I welcome you on board,” the CEC told Wambua.

The clergyman told  the CEC that  the Agrooter  booster  technology  has  been  successful  in other parts of the world where it has  been successfully used  for fruit farming.

“It has been used elsewhere on fruit trees and it has worked very well. However here in Kitui the same is being piloted among farmers on others crops and preliminary results show some success too,” said the churchman.

Dr Wambua said in their trial farmers had two sets of planting  where they planted beans with Agrooter in one plot of land and planted beans without Agrooter, and the former were said to be doing very well.

He emphasized that Agrooter was a moisture retention booster  but  not a replacement for fertiliser.

It is applied in the soil during crop planting crops especially in areas that are water scarce. He said Agrooter stores water for use by crops for a long time.