Kenya: Farmers drop wheat for barley

The high cost of fertiliser and other inputs is tempting farmers to shift from wheat to barley in order to benefit from the East African Maltings Limited credit scheme, Daily Nation published April 4.

The firm is among East African Breweries Limited’s group of companies, and offers contracted barley growers credit.

Kenya Barley Growers Association chairman, Samuel Gitonga who is also the chairman of the Kenya National Federation of Agricultural Producers Association (Nakuru chapter), said that many farmers could not afford the current fertiliser prices. Many dealers are now selling a 50-kilo bag of DAP fertiliser for Sh4,000, up from about Sh1,800 last year. Mr Gitonga said it was true that some farmers could shift from wheat to barley production, but added that East African Maltings determined the amount of barley it requires annually.

“If the East African Maltings has a sizeable carry-over from last year, it means that they will not contract many barley growers.” He said. Mr Gitonga said that a 90-kilo bag of barley fetches about Sh2,100, while a bag of wheat of the same weight is currently earning a farmer Sh3,000.

“Ordinarily you would expect farmers to be going for wheat, which is fetching more money than barley, but the problem is that many wheat farmers have no money to buy fertiliser at the current price,” Mr Gitonga said.

The company gives farmers credit to enable them buy fertilisers and herbicides and prepare their land.

The money is recovered when farmers harvest their crop. About 70 per cent of all the barley produced in the country is grown in Mau Narok, while Njoro, Molo, Moiben in Uasin Gishu and Timau also produce significant amounts.

Barley production fluctuates as a result of many factors including the Government’s inability to stop the manufacture of sub-standard brews that sometimes eat into the East African Breweries Limited products’ market.

Cheap brews

There have also been cases of imported cheap brews finding their way into the Kenyan beer market, denying local barley farmers the opportunity to earn maximum returns from their sweat.

Agriculture ministry records indicate that between 1996 and 1998, barley production in the Rift Valley Province dropped from 461,250 bags (90-kilo) to 367,055, while the acreage under the crop also dropped from 18,450 hectares, to 12,504 hectares during the same period.

Water-logged soils during the planting season and poor soils were at the time blamed for the drop in production.

04 April, 2008