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Why more farmers are ditching maize for hay

Willy Kirwa, a farmer in Kapseret Constituency, Uasin Gishu County on 18.09.2018. [Peter Ochieng, Standard]

On various spots along the Eldoret-Nakuru highway, it is a common sight to see trucks packed with hay being ferried in various parts of Kenya. Some go beyond the borders. With growing interest in dairy farming, an insatiable demand for animal pastures has been created and ambitious farmers are cashing in on it. Having discovered this ‘new gold’, in North Rift are moving into animal feed production ditching traditional maize cultivation.

Maize farming has been riddled with various challenges like poor prices, hiccups accessing cheap farm inputs like fertiliser subsidies and quality seeds among others.

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