@alalmaurice
Grace Okello, 43, from Bunyala North, Busia county, is a happy rice farmer after her harvest increased owing to high-yielding hybrid varieties.
She planted Pwani Gold Plus, a hybrid variety, on one acre and harvested 41 bags.
This was despite Okello having insufficient water to irrigate her crops.
Previously, from the local variety, Okello would harvest between five and 10 bags on the same piece of land.
In 2022, the mother of three, piloted the hybrids after she received the seeds from the Cereal Growers Association (CGA) in partnership with African Agriculture Technology Foundation (AAFT).
She harvested 26 bags of 90kg on her 0.4 acre pilot farm and sold a kilo at Sh57, translating to Sh157,000.
The proceeds enabled her to lease another land for expansion of rice farming. She expects a bumper harvest.
Okello, who now owns a farmer service centre after training by CGA, says local varieties do not do well where there is insufficient water compared to hybrids.
“The hybrid, with proper care and adequate water supply, can yield up to 70 bags per acre, compared to 30 to 40 bags of local varieties,” she says.
With the hybrid varieties and consultations, Okello has acquired a tractor for ploughing, food mixer and an incubator, which she uses to extend services to farmers.
She has created employment for youth who go about helping her serve the farmers and work on her farms.
Besides training farmers on best practices, Okello is wary of climate change and advocates climate-smart agriculture to protect the environment.
“With the increased yields and income, I'm now able to provide for my family and pay school fees for my children,” she says.
AAFT’s Rice project manager Dr Kayode Sanni says they are promoting and commercialising high-yielding well-adopted hybrid rice, with good desirable green quality for Africa.
Kayode, also leads the rice programme for Alliance for the Hybrid Rice for Africa (AHyRA), which is a public-private partnership that develops, promotes and commercialises hybrid varieties.
“We have released over 10 hybrids, which are yielding up to 10 tonnes per hectare where farmers mostly get yields of about 4-5 tonnes per hectare,” he says.
Farmers, who have embraced the new hybrids, Kayode says, are getting between nine and 10 tonnes per hectare, which has increased their income and reduced the cost of production per kilo of rice.
About 12 hybrid rice varieties have been introduced in Kenya. They include Pwani gold plus, AH0018, AH004, AH18003, AH18007, Komboka IR 2793 BW and Pwani gold.
The hybrids make the locally produced rice competitive in terms of green quality and cost of production.
“The cost of production is extremely important because if the price of the locally produced rice is higher than that of imported rice, it makes people go for one that is pocket-friendly,” Dr Kayode says.
The hybrid technology increases food security and provides employment opportunities because the seed companies need to produce the seeds, he said.
The parental line is in Kenya, creating easy access to the seed companies and enabling them to build their own hybrid rice system.
With increased yields and the possibility of earning more money, the hybrid varieties are attracting Kenyan youth into the rice value chain, says Dr Kayode. He was speaking during a demo in Khulwano village, Budalang’i, in Busia county.
Kenya’s National Rice Development Strategy targets to achieve seven tonnes of rice per hectare by 2030 and the hybrid varieties are giving a glimmer of hope.
Dr Kayode says if the new varieties can be promoted adequately, then the seven tonnes per acre target can be achieved as early as next year.
“Kenya imports about 80 per cent of rice of what we consume because we produce only less than 20 per cent,” he says.
“This is why we are doing these demos in Western Kenya where there is potential of increasing rice production to more than 250,000 acres of land, which can produce enough rice to feed this nation.”
The hybrids are being promoted because they have high-yielding, green and long grain that is consumed in Kenya.
The country produces about 200,000 tonnes of rice and imports about 800,000 tonnes.
“If we are able to produce one million tonnes of rice, which Kenyans have the potential to produce, then we would not need to import,” Kayode says.
This will help reduce the money used to import rice, which is about Sh42 billion annually.
The first set of hybrids were released in 2019, but the uptake has gone up after private seed companies last year sold more than 12,000 tonnes of seeds, following the demos in farms and promotion.
Hybrid technology is being promoted across the country. Last year, AAFT conducted demos in Mwea (Kirinyaga) and Kiharu (Murang’a) and Tana Delta.
There are 1,500 farmers who have embraced hybrid variety in the last one year of the demos and full promotion.
CGA and AAFT have more than 150,000 farmers being introduced to hybrid technology. “We are optimistic that when they all adopt the variety, then it will increase the production and productivity,” Dr Kayode says.
The rice is early maturing (100-120 days).
"It matures early and the duration they take in water is low, therefore reducing and maintaining gas emission that gets out of rice paddy. The variety helps improve the carbon credit,” Dr Kayode says.
The CGA is working with more than 600,000 farmers in the country who are increasingly asking for the hybrid variety, says project manager Oswald Miriti.
“We expect to reach out to more farmers as we think of introducing technology of planting, seeding and harvesting to make sure they are benefiting from farming business,” he says.
In Mwea, CGA in partnership with AAFT, introduced new hybrid varieties.
“We have quite a number of farmers asking for the hybrid seeds,” Miriti says.
Farmers who planted the varieties have recorded increased production by 30 per cent and reduced the cost of production, he said.
Agri All Africa (AAA) director Priscila Dimakatso says hybrid varieties retain high yields even when they are stressed.
She says they piloted the hybrid varieties on 500 acres in Tana Delta and harvested 7.1 tonnes of rice per hectare.
Dimakatso says they have partnered with AAFT to create their own seed bank and assist in getting hybrid varieties.
She says the only way the country can stop importation is through increased production of rice locally.
“We intend to use the same land to produce more yields. You can only get more yields if you have your own seed bank,” Dimakatso says.
She says they have partnered with AAFT targets to create their own seed bank and assist in getting hybrid varieties to increase yields in the same land.
“We should be able to feed Kenyans from this land and even East and Central Africa. Our rice production at Tana Delta should cover at least 55 per cent of production in Kenya,” Dimakatso says.
She urges farmers to embrace economies of scale to ensure it is viable.
“You can waste your time buying a seed that will not give you a higher yield but if you scale up you will get more yield by buying good seeds."
