Growing farmers' incomes from the ground up

21 June 2018

After passing through the dusty town of Matayos in western Kenya, an oasis of green fields springs up.

From a distance, one could easily mistake the lush green fields for a manicured garden! It is only when you draw closer that you recognise the greenery for what it is: fields of lush groundnut plants.

It is here in the midst of foliage that we find Rachael Amoit, one of the pilot farmers selected by Farm Africa’s Accelerated Value Chain Development Project (AVCD) to grow groundnut seeds on behalf of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

In western Kenya, commercial groundnut growers like Rachael are a rarity. A lack of awareness about the crop’s commercial potential means that the majority of groundnut growers are subsistence farmers.

Indeed, when Rachael first considered producing groundnut she harboured serious doubts. As a smallholder farmer with limited knowledge about seed and commercial production who was already preparing to grow maize, the shift to groundnut seemed daunting.

Armed with only her meagre savings and Farm Africa’s encouragement, Rachael decided to shelve her doubts and head down to ICRISAT’s offices to pick up groundnut seeds. She then marshalled her family members and, with support from extension officers, began planting the seed.

Rachael was given support to become a seed supplier. This meant that she learnt how to produce high-quality seeds suitable for sale.

Keen to maximise profits, Rachael and other seed, cereal and groundnut producers asked Farm Africa to train them in produce aggregation, group management and marketing.

“Middlemen had been having a field day, reaping profits from our hard work. They used our inadequate storage facilities to their advantage, knowing that we couldn’t hold our produce long enough to wait for improved market prices,” Rachael observed.

The training led to the formation of the Buyama Cereal and Seed Bank Association, a marketing organisation that the farmers use to market cereals, such as sorghum and millet, and sell their groundnut seed.

“Farm Africa’s intervention came at the perfect time as we were wondering what to do with the surplus produce, but now we are assured of a market and better returns”, says Mrs Amoit.