Kitui Agriculture CEC advises farmers to plant drought-resistant crops

Kitui farmers have been urged to plant drought-resistant crops before the October-December rains. 

In an interview on Thursday, Kitui CEC for Agriculture and Livestock, Stephen Kimwele advised farmers to heed the warning and take precautionary steps to avert unnecessary losses on their farms.

"I call on the Kitui farmers to plant crops that do not need a lot of water like cowpeas, green grams, millet, sorghum, pigeon peas and dolichos," he said.

Signs are overt that Kitui would not receive adequate rains with the long cold spells in September which is usually sunny. 

"The rain will not be good enough to support maize or bean crops as they need a lot of moisture to grow to maturity," Kimwele said.

Kenya Meteorological Services director David Gikungu placed Kitui among the counties that will receive near-average to below-average rain. 

He said areas likely to receive below-average (depressed) rainfall include counties in Central Kenya (Nyandarua, Kirinyaga, Nyeri, Murang’a, Kiambu), Nairobi County; counties in the Eastern Region (Meru, Embu, Tharaka Nithi).

Some counties in southeastern Kenya (Machakos, Makueni and Kitui) and North Eastern Counties (Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Marsabit and Isiolo) fell in the same bracket.

CEC Kimwele further said unlike in the past, the county government did not have any provision to dole out free seeds during the expected OND season. 

He said residents needed to use the seeds they stored from the previous good rain harvests or acquire certified seeds from pharmacies. 

Due to the depressed rain, Kitui residents should be strategic enough to store food in case of crop failure. 

"I would also like to call on Kitui farmers not to sell surplus food. They may come in handy in case of a crop failure due to depressed rain," said the CEC. 

Two weeks ago, the Kitui County National Drought Management Authority coordinator Francis Koma said Kitui County was already food stressed and the looming food insecurity called for food aid. 

Koma said a recent survey showed that the number of people in Integrated Food Security Phase 2 was 246,000 (44,727 households) while those in IPC Phase 1 were 984,000 (178,909 households).

He added that 61,500 people from 11,182 households skipped a meal or two due to an inability to access food.

He said there was a considerable crop failure in the last March-May season after crops failed to sprout due to erratic rain.

“The overall food security phase classification in the county is stressed,” he said. He added that details were contained in the Kitui2024 Long Rains Food and Nutrition Security Assessment Report.