In the lush and fertile plains of Kenya’s rice-growing regions, a revolution is quietly going on.
A partnership between the government and KilMOL, a leading agricultural machinery firm, is transforming rice farming through mechanisation.
Aimed at addressing the nation’s growing rice deficit, the initiative promises to cut down on imports, boost local production and revitalise the rice sector.
It seeks to boost rice production and reduce the 75 per cent deficit that costs taxpayers a staggering Sh42 billion annually.
The government, through the National Irrigation Authority seeks to increase output from the current 250,000 tonnes to 1.2 million tonnes.
The target will help satisfy the domestic market’s growing demand.
Simon Mutua, an agricultural engineer with KilMOL, says the partnership has introduced six-row and four-row rice transplanters to tackle production gaps, improve efficiency and reduce the high costs of manual planting.
The machinery is currently being used at the Mwea Irrigation Scheme in Kirinyaga County and has shown significant results.
Farmers have reported an increase in production from 25 bags to 40 bags per acre, a testament to the efficiency of mechanised planting.
Mutua attributes the higher yield to the precision of the machinery, which ensures zero breakage and root disturbance, factors that can hinder crop survival when planting manually.
“The machinery’s accurate spacing and depth are key in controlling wilting and ensuring healthy seedlings, something that manual planting struggles to achieve,” he said.
Speaking during a demonstration at the Ahero Irrigation Scheme in Kisumu county, Mutua emphasised the cost-effectiveness of mechanised planting.
He said a four-row transplanter consumes only four litres of petrol per acre, translating to a cost of about Sh700. In contrast, traditional manual planting requires up to 18 people per acre, costing around Sh9,000.
“This means farmers can plant more acres in a day, increasing productivity while cutting costs,” Mutua said.
The initiative comes when manual labour in rice farming is rapidly declining, especially among younger people who are disinterested in the labour-intensive nature of the work.
With the average age of rice farmers being around 60, mechanised planting provides a sustainable solution to the looming labour shortage.
Mechanisation is successful in countries such as Pakistan, Japan and India. Mutua said the same technology could triple Kenya’s rice production.
To facilitate the adoption of this new technology, NIA has allocated KilMOL spaces at irrigation schemes for demonstrations and training.
The firm plans to expand its outreach and has already onboarded 20,000 farmers, with efforts underway to reach an additional 10,000 by the end of the year.
Daudi Aleri, the Operational Research Officer at Ahero Irrigation Scheme, said the machinery as a game-changer in reducing rice production costs.
He said the technology is expected to not only increase production but also expand the acreage under cultivation, thus creating more jobs in the rice value chain.
“With increased production, we will see more actors in the value chain, more food and more job opportunities, especially for the youth,” he said.
Local farmers, such as Japheth Asugo from Ahero, have also welcomed the initiative.
Asugo said the new machinery has proven to be cost-effective and will likely renew interest in rice farming, which is a staple livelihood for many in the region.
“This technology will help us maximise our output without the excessive costs and time associated with traditional methods,” he said.
Asugo called on the Ministry of Agriculture and its partners to expand access to the machinery, allowing more farmers to benefit and ultimately contribute to the country’s goal of achieving rice self-sufficiency.
Agricultural mechanisation is the application of tools, implements and powered machinery and equipment to achieve agricultural production.
Heifer International Africa Programmes Senior Vice President, Adesuwa Ifedi said smallholder farmers are the backbone of Africa’s food systems.
They account for up to 80 per cent of food production in sub-Saharan Africa.
The organisation is a global nonprofit working to end hunger and poverty through sustainable farming.
“Equipping them with the right tools and resources, including appropriate and sustainable mechanisation, is essential for increased productivity,” Ifedi said.
She said access to affordable tractors can increase incomes of smallholder farmers.
“This will lead to not just enhance productivity, but will bring a plethora of critical transformational pathways of increased inclusion, an energised ecosystem and job creation for Africa’s energetic youth” Ifedi said.
A new report on Mechanisation for Africa released by Heifer International says Africa is the least mechanised continent.
“With just 13 tractors per 100 square kilometres of arable land, Africa significantly lags behind the global average of 200 tractors per hectare of arable land,” the report says.
The report, titled Mechanisation for Africa: Innovative financing for agricultural transformation and youth job creation, examined the role and benefits of agricultural innovation, mechanisation and financing in empowering smallholder farming communities in Africa while creating new opportunities in agriculture for the youth.
It says in recent years, mechanisation has emerged as a transformative force in Africa’s agricultural
landscape, but the journey towards
mechanised agriculture is not without its hurdles.
