This archive report was first published on 30 June 2019.
Published on June 30, 2019, farmers in Nyanza and Busia are defying poor rain forecasts to plant sorghum, with estimates suggesting they will produce up to 8,000 tonnes of the grain.
Nearly 15,000 farmers contracted by East African Maltings Limited, a subsidiary of the East African Breweries Limited (EABL), went against the weatherman's warnings that the 30-day delay in March rains could affect crop production.
The farmers planted specific varieties of white sorghum used in the production of the company's low-end beer, Senator Keg, at a new factory in Kisumu.
EABL projects that the farmers will take to its stores between 6,500 tonnes and 8,000 of threshed grain, about 2,000 tonnes below targets set at the end of last year.
According to EABL's Western Kenya Regional Agribusiness Manager Eliud Kiptoo, the resilience of the farmers who took the risk will pay off by the end of July, when those who waited for the beginning of proper rains will be harvesting.
Ms Rose Matano, leader of the Mlolongo Women Group, which has 500 farmers from just nine the previous year, said many of her group members attended sensitization seminars on the crop and were impressed by the returns.
Ms Matano earned Sh65,000 after cultivating three-and-a-half acres of sorghum, and the returns saw farmers in the group recruited and trained on how to plant sorghum.
Some farmers have gone large scale with the crop, such as Mr George Okinda, a former barley farmer who has put 16 acres under sorghum.
