Farmer replaces napier with 'wonder' grass to boost milk production

Job Nkonge, a retired teacher, grows a variety of crops on his 38-acre Kathigu farm in Igoji East, Miruriiri Location.

Recently, he decided to try his hands on brachiaria grass, a fodder crop that has greatly improved the milk production of his cows. The other fodder crops on the farm are napier and calliandra.

“You will have to cover three-quarters of my farm to understand why I call myself an erratic farmer,” Mr Nkonge, 62, tells the Smart Harvest as he ushers us to his farm that is divided by Kathigu Road that leads to the nearby Karingene Coffee Factory.

From a distance, the brachiaria grass looks like napier grass (elephant grass/Pennisetum purpureum).

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However, it does not have the stinging hair unlike napier grass, a quality that makes it easy for cut and carry. Brachiaria’s thick leaves make it hard for weeds to thrive on the farm.

“My farm was picked to act as a demonstration farm for a project involving the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (Kalro), Embu,” he says.

He explains that the Upper Tana Natural Resources Management Project promotes and funds the brachiaria adoption initiative, while Kalro provides technical support.

Nkonge says brachiaria is good in soil and water conservation.

“The topology of my land is such that there is a steep slope on one end where coffee bushes used to be. Over time, I lost so much soil to erosion but thanks to brachiaria’s deep and wide rooting system that a portion of the land is rejuvenated and has a healthy crop of brachiaria,” he says.

“Brachiaria grass has high productivity even under intensive use. It is tolerant to low fertility soils, acidic soils as well as pests and diseases. It is adapted to a wide range of agro-ecological zones in the catchment and increases nitrogen use efficiency through biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) and arrest greenhouse gas emissions,” says Catherine Muriithi, a researcher with Karlo who is also in charge of the project.

The farmer is clearing napier grass from his farm and replacing it with brachiaria.

He says he can harvest two tonnes of brachiaria after fueling the brush cutter with one litre of fuel.

From the 40g of the three brachiaria variety seeds received for the project in 2015, Nkonge says he has established two acres farm of the fodder through seed and split propagation. 

He says brachiaria has little wastage unlike napier grass where the lignified stock is unpalatable for animals and often goes to waste.

“You harvest about 24kgs of brachiaria biomass from a square meter of land, all of which goes to feeding the animals,” Nkonge says.

“This high biomass production capacity makes it a good alternative for making hay and silage, and I get 600 bales of hay from the two acres, and the fodder is ready for another harvest in 8 weeks,” says the farmer, adding there is also minimum maintenance since there is barely any weeding required after brachiaria matures.

Nkonge says after the project’s open days, there is growing demand for brachiaria seeds by farmers. The farmer regrets that following the outbreak of Covid-19, Karlo officials have not been able to reach many farmers to train them on brachiaria propagation and establishment.

“The institution, however, encourages farmers who have benefited from their training to be brand ambassadors by sharing the technical knowledge with other farmers in their localities,” says Simon Mumbere, an official of the Upper Tana Natural Resources Management Project.

After a three-hour tour of the farm, we witness the milking of the dairy cows with the backdrop of Mugithi music.

“Animals too, enjoy a soothing, and peaceful environment to reduce stress, a vital component especially when milking as this makes the cows release the milk to maximum production,” Dr Mutua Muthuri, who we found treating Stella, a dairy cow, for Anaplasmosis, a type of cancer, explains to us.

Besides the fodder crops, Nkonge plants horticultural crops, coffee, rears poultry, and goats. The farm also has a coffee pulp factory.

“During the good days of coffee farming, I had acquired a license to construct this pulp factory. It was big business then for the family sometimes with a turnover of close to a  million shillings per season. Now I only produce coffee on a small-scale since I lost most of my 10,000 plants to the Fusarium bark disease,” says Nkonge.

The farmer may soon increase the acreage under coffee thanks to an ongoing project in parts of Meru that has seen the introduction of SL28 and SL34 high yielding varieties.

He says to boost farming skills, he attended agricultural training at Kaguru Agricultural Training Institute.

After a 45-minute walk through macadamia, avocado, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, kale, carrots, and other vegetables, I now understand why Nkonge refers to himself as an “erratic farmer.”

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