On a mid-morning at Poyer village in Siaya County, along the Siaya-Port Victoria road, a group of women gather at a homestead to select groundnuts.
At a first glance, one would imagine that the women are doing it in preparation for snacks, probably for an occasion.
However, these are some of the members of the Mapor Mayier Farmers Group who are cleaning groundnut seeds in preparation for the planting season.
Mapor Moyier is the local name for remember and embrace respectively.
As we learn, the group’s names aim at urging farmers to keep in mind that agriculture is a line of business and embrace it as a source of food and money for families.
Five members of the group, including the host, have been selected to specialise in groundnuts seeds production in a bid to ensure a sufficient supply for the same.
“We used to buy seeds from a neighbouring country, but unfortunately their germination was poor, leading to low production,” says Doreen Auma, a farmer, who doubles up as the group secretary.
She produced seeds for the first time during July-December 2022 season and access to the market for her produce was readily available due to high demand.
She says the area Sub-County Agricultural Officer had a ready market.
Additionally, locally produced seeds are preferred by many farmers owing to their high chances of germination compared to imported ones.
Before venturing into seeds production, the farmers would sell a two-kilogram container of groundnuts for between Sh200-Sh300.
As seeds though, the same amount of the produce fetches between Sh450-Sh600.
Their trigger to venturing into seeds production came as a result of training by the Market Access Upgrade Program (MARKAUP) which has been training farmers on Global Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) Group Dynamics and Good Governance.
MARKUP Kenya which is supported by the European Union is implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in partnership with the Government of Kenya and the private sector.
The program that was launched in 2019 focuses on groundnuts, passion fruits, mangos and macadamia nuts among other value chains and aims at promoting competitiveness and market access for Kenyan produce locally, regionally and internationally.
Although farmers from the Mapor Mayier group had gotten a bulk buyer of their produce, they declined, owing to the low buying price offered.
“The buyer had offered to buy unshelled nuts at Sh60 for a two-kilogram can of unshelled groundnuts, but we declined,” says Auma, adding that the shells are a source of poultry feeds when crushed.
She says that the crushed shells sell at Sh50 for a two-kilogram tin.
In December last year, MARKUP Kenya linked farmers from this county and Busia to a processor who would be buying their products in bulk.
“We are still organising the farmers in cooperatives as per the potential buyer’s requirement, so that contract farming can start,” says Davis Somollo, the Siaya County Crops Officer.
Following interventions by MARKUP Kenya, he added that 8 out of the 23 groundnut producer groups are partially able to access EU and regional markets.
Additionally, 180 producers are adopting Global GAP market access guidelines and are in the process of registering into legal structures that can enter contracts with buyers, while 3,045 more producers have been recruited to grow groundnut during the 2023 long rains season.
Sommolo revealed that late last year, MARKUP Kenya linked farmer groups from Siaya and Homabay counties to a processor who would engage them in contract farming for the groundnuts value chain adding that negotiations for the same.
Among the requirements by the buying company is that farmers form cooperatives and produce enough quantities and the right quality of produce.