Varsities seek to boost production of crops

By Joel Okwayo

Five universities have launched a research programme to assess the decline in production of several indigenous food crops.

The research launched at Bukura Agricultural Training Farmers Centre in Kakamega County will cover crops including cow-peas, mushrooms, pumpkins, French beans and amaranths.

The Agriculture Ministry in collaboration with the Kenya Agricultural Productivity Programme will finance the three-year research at a cost of Sh24 million.

Mt Kenya University deputy Vice Chancellor John Nderitu and Dr Richard Mulwa of Egerton University are leading the research programme.

The two will make recommendations on how to improve production of the crops.

More than 10,000 farmers will be enlisted in the research that will also involve production of nightshades and spider wads in Homa Bay and Siaya counties.

Kakamega County headed by Dr Josephine Ongoma will recruit more than 3,000 farmers to research on soya beans, cowpeas and mushrooms.

Quality seeds

Prof Nderitu and Mulwa who were speaking during a one-day workshop at Bukura said experts from the universities of Nairobi, Bondo, Egerton and Chuka would also help in the research.

Prof Florence Olubayi, who is the head of Plant Ecology Department at University of Nairobi, explained that the project has been designed to give farmers priority in the implementation of the programme.

Olubayi, Nderitu and Ongoma said quality of seeds would also be improved after the exercise.

They noted that production of some vegetables was declining because farmers do not plant quality seeds.

"We want our supermarkets to be stocked with locally produced vegetables and not imported ones," said Olubayi.

Nderitu, who is in charge of Research and Development at Mt Kenya University, called for research on food production, saying some vegetables are used for medicinal purposes and must be sustained.

He blamed cases of malnutrition in some parts of the country on lack of feeding children on traditional vegetables.

Western Provincial Director of Agriculture John Cheruyiot said each crop would have a team of farmers assigned for its development.

Selected farmers would be required to prepare demonstration plots for research.