Posted on July, 16, 2018 at 10:37 am
By BARACK ODUOR
Plans by Kenya Breweries Limited to sponsor over 15,000 farmers in Nyanza to grow sorghum for its new Kisumu plant have paid off following a bumper harvest of the crop in the region.
Chairman the Homa Bay County Sorghum Farmers Association, Mr Ager Kiroho, said farmers in the region were expecting a good income from the brewer.
The brewer had provided seeds and other farm inputs to farmers in the region to woo them into growing the crop used in making beer.
Mr Kiroho said each farmer has harvested between 30 and 70 bags of millet, making the season's harvest to be the highest in sorghum growing history in the region. Last month, the company provided two farming co-operatives in West Karachuonyo, where the crop is largely grown, with sorghum thresher machines and other drying materials.
The company distributed 20 threshing machines which are used to separate grains from chaffs to first-time sorghum farmers in Nyanza and Western regions in latest efforts to increase production volumes ahead of the opening of their newly built Sh15 billion plant in Kisumu.
KBL Supply Chain Director Patrick Kamugi, the machines eases harvesting and further reduces post-harvest losses apart from creating employment to the Kisumu brewery suppliers. In addition, KBL will also distribute 400 grain drying sheets to first-time sorghum farmers.
Mr Kamugi said the ‘West for West’ strategy being implemented by KBL in the sourcing of sorghum is meant to have majority of raw materials for Kisumu Brewery sourced from the western part of the country.
“We expect to recruit more farmers in the coming months and even though the process had poised some problems such as bad weather at the start, there is hope farmers will harvest up to 15,000 tonnes of sorghum this season.”
Mr Kamugi said the Western and Nyanza raw sourcing plan was part of EABL’s strategy to acquire 100 per cent of raw materials from locals by 2020.
KBL managing director Jane Karuku announced in March that the first barrel of Senator Keg will be released from the multi-billion-shilling facility on July 17.
The good harvest comes in the wake of an earlier setback suffered by the farmers following heavy rains and birds that destroyed their farms. More than 12,000 sorghum farmers in Nyando, West Karachuonyo and Lambwe Valley in Kisumu and Homa Bay counties were affected by floods and attack by birds.
KBL has been laying strategies to woo farmers in growing sorghum for its new plant in Kisumu town. The company has even sponsored a group of farmers from the region on a benchmarking field trip aimed at building crop production capacity ahead of the Kisumu plant re-opening.
The 50 farmers from Migori, Kisumu and Busia were selected to represent their counties in the first-ever benchmarking event, aimed at establishing best practices in sorghum farming and promoting learning and exchange of ideas between the farmers.
Source: Daily Nation