Nairobi: Residents from Ndiwa Village, Nyatike Sub-County, can now smile after undergoing an intensive training session on growing drought-resistant crops in the semi-arid area to boost their food security.
According to Kenya News Agency, the residents were also given free soya and sunflower seeds to start with, expressing optimism that their newfound knowledge would improve their yields after successive failed seasons due to poor rainfall patterns in the area. The Cereal Growers Association (CGA), under the project dubbed 'Farm to Market', in partnership with the County Government and the World Health Organization (WHO), aims to empower the Ndiwa residents to be food secure.
Janet Omollo, a CGA official, indicated that their main objective is to support small farmers, especially from Nyatike, a semi-arid sub-county, to access short-term and drought-resistant seeds to boost agricultural production in the area. Omollo also mentioned that she has been organizing buyers to purchase cereals from farmers, providing a ready market for small-scale farmers.
'We have been organizing Aggregation Fairs at the grassroots level to educate farmers on the qualities and standards they should consider before engaging in short-term and drought-resistant crops like sunflower, soya, millet, and sorghum', Omollo stated. She also noted that they were running a project known as Tobacco Free Farm, where farmers are being taught the side effects of growing tobacco and its negative impacts on their health.
The speaker urged farmers to diversify their crops to mitigate the impact of climate change and ensure a crop backup in case other crops fail to mature. For instance, Charles Onyango, a farmer in Ndiwa Village, shared that they have gained a lot from the Cereal Growers Association (CGA) on the importance of embracing short-term drought-resistant crops.
'Our area receives very little rainfall, and depending only on fishing will not solve our food security problem. We have decided to venture into short-time and drought-resistant crops to boost our food basket', Onyango commented.