Farmers in Bungoma county have been asked to shift to growing soya beans given its huge market demand that will enable them make more cash.
Soya bean is a multi-purpose crop, which is mainly used for food, livestock feed, industrial raw material and a source of bio-energy.
In the cooking oil industry, the bean is preferred for extraction of the liquid to feed the growing appetite for fewer cholesterol foods.
Currently, soya bean farming in Kenya is mostly practiced in Western counties of Busia, Kakamega, Homa Bay, Migori, Vihiga and Bungoma.
Demand for soy bean has been between 3,000– 3,500 metric tonnes per year with Kenya supplying only about 200 metric tonnes.
Speaking at Mabanga Agricultural Training Centre on Thursday during an agricultural expo, Steve Amusala, Chief Executive Officer of the Anglican Development Services in the Western region, said the expo has created an avenue for the farmers to learn how to increase the soya beans production on their farms to meet high market demand.
However, he said it has been an uphill task convincing Kenyan farmers to take up soya bean farming despite the evident benefits. For years, he said, this reluctance has created a shortage in the country.
Amusala said during the engagement, farmers were also taught on the climate change mitigation measures while undertaking soya bean production.
He said ADS has been in partnership under a project called Soya commercialisation since 2019 with two scale organisation and County governments in the Western region with a sole aim of doubling the production of the crop.
He added the project was also meant to mobilise smallholder farmers to appreciate the importance of soya beans and in that appreciation then they would be mobilised to grow it.
“The reason for starting soya beans farming in the Western region was to increase the production of soya beans, train farmers on good agricultural practices for optimal production and improved household nutrition,” he said.
Amusala said it has been four years since the project was launched, noting that when the project started the huge population was not growing soya beans.
“Before we launched this project in the Western region, soya beans were known as quarter and quarters poor man’s crops but working out three years later we have been able to mobilise over 5,300 farmers in the counties of Western that are currently cultivating soya beans,” he said.
He said apart from mobilising farmers to grow soya beans the organisation has also been able to do aggregation that is essential for the farmers to collect their produce so that they can be able to put it on the ready market.
“The organisation has been looking for ready markets for the farmers’ products,” he said.
The CEO said they have linked farmers with aggregators and buyers who have signed MOU’s with farmers with an assurance of them getting ready markets.
He added, “When we started this project many farmers were intercropping soya, but after we mentored and trained them they are now growing pure stand in large scale.”
He cited access to certified soya beans being a major challenge to the farmers saying that they have been forced to cross over to Kampala Uganda to buy certified seeds.
To address the seeds menace, through the commercialisation project, Amusala said the organisation has started building the capacity of seed bulkers for the community seed multiplication.
He said the seed bulkers are farmers who produce over 123 metric tonnes of soya beans, noting that they have been trained by KALRO and Kephis and that it is an integrated approach to soya beans farming.
Amusala called on farmers who aren’t growing soya beans to embrace it and make soya bean the main crop in Western, adding that for many years, soya beans has been viewed as an underdog when it comes to crops that can rake in money. He called on the farmers to change the narrative and embrace soya bean farming.
“Soya bean is a king crop that can bring money to small holder farmers,” he said.
He said the project has also supplied farmers with soya kits for grinding, processing and crushing the nuts into flour and processing into other products.
Amusala said climate change is a huge reality noting that the organisation has taught its farmers on the adaptation measures to mitigate it.
“Sometimes when we don’t have rain one of the things we do is promote irrigation so that we don’t rely on rain fed up agriculture,” he said. The organisation works with companies that work under irrigation to supply irrigation materials for the farmers, he said.
He added that, “We have been able to train farmers on climate change mitigation measures like promoting agroforestry.”
Amusala said soya beans is a good crop when it comes to agroforestry and returning soil fertility into the soil.
He encouraged farmers to do soil testing to know what is missing and the enhancements to make the soil more productive.
“KALRO has played a vital role in soil testing making our farmers reap big from soya bean farming,” he said.
Beatrice Nakhumicha, Chief Officer cooperative development in Bungoma county, lauded ADS for picking the Western counties to grow soya beans affirming that the expo has made farmers understand the importance of soya beans farming and the end products.
She cited products like milk, sausages, oil, chapati made from soya beans.
She, however, said the launch of an aggregated industrial park at Sang’alo in Bungoma will give soya bean farmers an increase in value. She said it will also create employment opportunities for the youths in the region.
