New seeds help farmers grow more food

01 November 2012

It rains less and less often around Kitui in eastern Kenya, which means farmers are finding it ever more difficult to grow enough crops and food for their families and communities.

In response, Farm Africa is working with selected farmers’ groups to improve the quality and supply of drought-tolerant seeds that produce crops able to withstand the increasingly dry conditions.

By providing improved seeds and by introducing new techniques that help farmers to conserve water in their soil, we aim to boost the production of drought-tolerant crops by 50% over the next year.

Champion farmers

To help ensure we achieve this ambitious target, we have identified a ‘champion’ farmer who will use his expertise in the new seeds and water conservation techniques to train groups of farmers in Kitui.

Additionally, we have established two farmers’ groups that have received initial training on water and soil conservation techniques. They have received further training in how to use the new drought-tolerant seeds from staff from Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture. This means the farmers now know all about the four carefully selected drought-tolerant crops: cowpeas, green grams, pigeon peas and sorghum.

To ensure that the training was as practical and effective as ever, we also recently organized a field trip for the farmers’ groups. They visited a farmer who has already planted drought-tolerant crops and who is putting in place water conservation measures like rooftop and road water collection.

Read more about climate-resilient farming.

More about our work in Kenya.