The national research organisation has established ‘Mkulima Shops’ where farmers can access quality certified crop varieties and get agricultural information.
Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO) Seeds director Robert Musyoki said they have been using various channels to distribute the seeds to reach the ultimate consumer—the farmer.
“We have Mkulima shops which we have been using, some of them are up and running in various parts of the country. Initially in phase one, we targeted 16 Mkulima shops,” he said.
He spoke during a farmers' field day in KALRO seeds centre in Kandara, Murang'a county.
Musyoki said the Mkulima shop model is whereby all KALRO products including seeds and necessary agricultural information are displayed and available to farmers.
The Mkulima shops are distributed in Coast, Central Kenya, Central and Western Rift Valley regions.
He said the aim is to ensure the seeds and other technologies developed by KALRO are availed to the farmers.
“Another channel that we are using to make sure that we disseminate technologies at KALRO seeds is the use of the digital platforms. We have developed a number of platforms that are usable and available to the farmers,” Musyoki said.
He noted that extension service is no longer vibrant as it was in the past and the digital platforms have been developed to ensure farmers get agricultural information at the comfort of their mobile phones.
“89 per cent of the farmers have mobile phones and they can request for this information through these platforms,” he said.
For instance, farmers can get weather information through the digital platform.
“Every farmer wants to know when and if his/her area is going to rain. With the weather platform, we are able to get the weather prediction and you can know when an area is going to expect rains. They also get information on what crop variety one needs to plant in the farm. This is a question that many farmers always ask, and such information can be availed in our digital platforms,” said the head of the seed unit.
Musyoki said they also provide information on pests and diseases and the control measures that a farmer can use.
“We are exploring these platforms to disseminate this information to the farmers to make sure they do the right thing at the right time and in the correct way,” he said.
He further explained that KALRO seeds was formed in 1997 and it was then known as KALRO Seed Unit. The unit was formed to develop and produce orphaned crops: cow peas, sorghum, millet, green grams and beans.
But in 2022, KALRO decided to transform the seed unit and it was renamed KALRO Seeds.
“This was done with the aim of expanding production and more crops were brought on board. Today we have more crops, more varieties in production and we have also expanded in areas of production,” he said.
Initially, seed production was only done at KALRO Katumani and Horticulture Research Institute in Kandara. Currently, there are now 16 centres located in various parts of the country where seed is being produced.
“We have Matuga and Mtwapa centres which are taking care of the needs of the farmers in the coastal region. Mwea centre takes care of rice, Embu is looking into cassava, sweet potato and maize for the mid-altitude areas,” Musyoki said.
KALRO Kandara and KALRO Seed head office in Thika are mostly doing avocado (particularly the hass variety which is in high demand locally and for the export market), macadamia, mangoes, passion other fruit tree seedlings.
The Muguga centre is doing maize, beans and pasture production for that region, Oljorolok is also doing pasture production.
There are other centres in Western Kenya like Kakamega, Kitale, Alupe and Kibos producing crop varieties required in that region. In the Rift Valley there is Njoro producing oil crops like soya beans, sunflower, and also wheat seed production.
He said the aim of reorganising KALRO seed was to ensure they improve on the quantity and quality of seed produced in the country, and meet not only the national standards implemented by Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services, but also international standards.
“Our seeds can be taken to other countries in East Africa and beyond because the standards are acceptable everywhere in the world,” he said.
Musyoki said they also use farmers field days to demonstrate the new seed varieties that have been developed.
“During the farmers’ field days, we do demonstrations. We plant the crops and the farmers come and see and they select what is suitable for them. Private seed companies also come to see and pick what is good for them, he added.
-Edited by SKanyara