Farmers in Makueni have been contracted by Egerton University to produce pigeon pea seeds.
John Musyoki from Kibwezi West has planted the crop in his 10-acre farm.
He is among 41 farmers who have been contracted by the university to undertake the project.
Musyoki told journalists who visited his farm that he has shifted from maize and beans farming to pigeon peas due to the high yields and ready market for the crop.
“In the past, farmers used to buy mixed seeds from the local merchants and thus could not escape the wrath of serious diseases and low production. Now we are assured of certified and drought-tolerant seeds throughout the year. When I was doing maize farming, the yields were not forthcoming and I used to harvest three bags of 100kg from one acre or nothing at all during the dry season,” the 61-year-old farmer said.
Bernard Towett, a senior researcher on drought-tolerant crops at Egerton, said they have been able to release three varieties of pigeon peas whose seeds they have contacted farmers to produce.
This is being done through the Accelerated Value Chain Development Programme, which is funded by USAID-Feed the Future.
The drought-tolerant crops value chains component is being implemented by International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).
Towett said the programme has three components of livestock, Irish potatoes and drought-tolerant crops.
ICRISAT is working on several drought-tolerant crops including pigeon peas, green grams, sorghum, finger millet and groundnuts, while Egerton is involved in training farmers, research and the seed system.
He said getting seeds for the drought-tolerant crops has been a big challenge in Kenya and that pigeon peas have been neglected for a while.
“But they are now coming up and are expensive to buy in the market, hence the reason they are called high-value crops,” Towett said.
Towett said the demand for pigeon pea seeds is huge because not much research has been done.
But ICRISAT has been doing research since 1992, and it is only last year when the two organizations were able to release new varieties.
The university released three varieties –Egerton Mbaazi 1, 2 and 3 - last year after a seven-year research process. Under the seed multiplication programme, ICRISAT distributes seeds to the farmers while Egerton University purchases the seeds.
“The new varieties mature early and we have the long duration pigeon peas that take 10 months to mature. Then there are the medium duration pigeon peas, which mature in four months but you will harvest up to the eighth month,” he said.
The researcher said the varieties are not only early maturing but are also high yielding and resistant to pests and diseases.
The production of the new varieties ranges between 12 and 17 bags for one year, unlike the traditional seeds which have a yielding capacity of one to three bags in a single season.
“When we released, we decided to do contract farming because of the huge demand and they stared with Makueni due to the favourable weather. The seeds will be distributed to farmers in Kerio Valley, Turkana, Kitui, Machakos and Tharaka Nithi counties hence the need to produce enough,” Towett said.
He added that they contracted 41 farmers to produce the seeds, and they will be buying the seeds at Sh100 per kilo.
Peter Wambua, chairman of Makueni Agribusiness Ventures, whose members are among those doing contractual seed production, said most of the contracted farmers have between one and 10 acres.
“Last year, ICRISAT researchers introduced and taught us how to plant drought-tolerant seeds for crops such as pigeon peas, sorghum and green grams. The university contracted us to produce the seeds and assured us of a ready market of Sh100 per kilo of pigeon peas. Farmers sell the remaining seeds to the local market or other farmers interested in pigeon peas farming at Sh50 per kilo,” Wambua said.
He added that going forward they are planning to form a cooperative society in order to recruit more farmers and bring on board more young people in the seed production business. This, he said, will also help in taming middlemen and ensure farmers earn better incomes.
Peter Kisilu, the only youth in the group, said there are huge opportunities in farming and the emergence of various modern technologies offers a favourable platform for the many jobless youths.
“There is money in the soil. For instance, I was able to harvest 500kg of pigeon peas where a kilo fetched Sh100. I made a clean Sh50, 000 in a season. The current average age of a farmer is between 60 and 70 years. So, I urge the youth, because of their fast knowledge in modern technology, to exploit the openings as the labour market continues facing challenges,” said Kisilu.
