Gatonye Gathura and Wanjiru Macharia
19 October 2009
Nairobi — Thousands of farmers across the country are yet to start planting maize because the seeds are not available in outlets while free government rations are yet to be widely distributed.
Failing to secure proper seed varieties from local retailers, many farmers from as far as Mwingi are travelling to Nairobi in search for varieties suitable for their areas.
On Monday, agrovet shops on Haile Selassie Avenue near the KFA building, where most such outlets are located in Nairobi, were crowded by farmers who wanted popular seed varieties such as Katumani composites.
"I have been coming here since last week in search of Katumani or DH01, DH02, DH04 seeds, but now I am told to buy other varieties which I don't trust," a farmer, Mr John Muli, from Mwingi told the Nation on Monday.
According to a salesman at the Simlaw Seed Company, a subsidiary of the Kenya Seed Company -- the country's main seed multiplier and distributor of seeds -- the firm is experiencing a shortage of seed varieties meant for arid areas such as Ukambani and is advising farmers to buy alternatives.
Salesman Luke Kipkemboi said farmers from Ukambani are advised to buy PH1 and PH4, which are developed for the Coast region.
This, said, a seed stockist in Nairobi, was a gamble.
"These Pwani varieties are usually meant for a region that receives more rain than Ukambani, so if the current rains are normal or below normal then farmers will get poor yields," said the distributor who did not want to be identified for fear of victimisation.
However, he said, if the El Niño rains actually come, the farmers may get a very high yield.
The shortage of the maize seed in the commercial sector is occasioned by the entrance of the government and other relief agencies buying the seeds for free distribution to farmers.
The government is said to have bought more than 400 tonnes of maize seed varieties suitable for dry areas. However, the Ministry of Agriculture denies that there is a shortage of maize seed.
"What is happening is that there is a rush to get seeds following the arrival of the rains but this will level out in the next few days," Mr Herman Wabwoba, the ministry's public relations officer told the Nation after consultations with the crops director, Dr Johnson Irungu.
He said the ministry had been distributing the seeds in public barazas and open days in many parts of the country to farmers who own less than one acre.
"Nation can join us on Wednesday and Thursday when the minister for Agriculture, Mr William Ruto, and the deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta tour Kiambu, Thika, Murang'a and Nyeri to distribute some maize seeds," he said on Monday.
When the Nation team visited some seed outlets in the city on Monday stockists were waiting for deliveries at midday but were informed later that they were not available because they had been bought by the government.
This was a major disappointment for customers who had been waiting for hours, but said they would wait.
Seed stockists argue that the government's buying of almost all the available seed stocks without a clear distribution strategy in place could create a major food crisis.
"It will deny those farmers who don't qualify for relief a chance to buy from the commercial outlets while being too slow to reach the deserving cases. In any case, they say, nobody knows how long the rains will last."
In Nakuru and its surroundings, farmers are flocking farm input shops to buy seed and fertiliser.
The Nation saw vans full of fertiliser and maize seed being driven out of the town centre.
Meya Agri Traders Ltd, one of the shops, was a beehive of activity, with most farmers looking for short season hybrid seeds.
A number of growers who were looking for seed were, however, disappointed on learning that there was a shortage.
Plant cabbages
"I have been looking for maize seeds that mature within three months because I am not sure how long the rains are going to last but I did not find any so I opted to plant cabbages," said Mr John Gitau from Mbaruk.
He said he had decided to cultivate a smaller portion of his land this season because he did not want to risk incurring losses similar to the ones he suffered last season when the rains failed.
Meya operations director Albert Munywoki said most farmers wanted to plant short season crops because they were not sure of the rainfall pattern.
"The government has redirected the short season maize seeds to areas that were worst hit by drought and famine, leading to a short supply to towns such as Nakuru," he said.
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