Farmers harvest grief as disease destroys maize

Maize farmers in the South Rift region are counting their losses after this year’s crop was infested by a deadly fungus.

They expected a bumper harvest but are now clearing their farms in a desperate attempt to contain the fungal disease identified as the leaf stripe of maize.

The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service, the government plant doctors agency, has cautioned them not to feed their animals on the infested crop.

Instead, the research institution directed them to uproot and burn it.

Maize is the staple for the South Rift farmers and without it they have been dealt a big blow. Read (Shortage of maize triggers price rises)

The situation will, however, force them to resort to other foodstuff.

Most of  the families in the area are wallowing in poverty as a result of the crop disease.

They are unable to send their children to school, let alone put food on the table for their families.

In an interview with the Nation, one of the farmers, Mr Samwel Soi, said he had lost maize on 12 acres to the disease both in Bomet and Emarti in Transmara East District.

Mr Soi said he had spent more than Sh200,000 to prepare the farms and purchase certified seeds and fertilisers, among other inputs.

He expected to harvest at least 360 bags of the grain.

The depressed 60-year-old farmer said he had been looking forward to selling surplus produce, which would have brought him more than Sh1 million as has been the case the previous seasons.

With the destruction of his maize fields, Mr Soi feared he might be unable to raise school fees for his children at public universities under the privately-sponsored programme, tertiary colleges and private secondary schools.

Trying to secure food for his family of 10 children was now an uphill task.

“Ministry of Agriculture officials and local leaders are advising us to go for alternative crops such as Irish potatoes, beans, cassava, sweet potatoes and yet there are no seeds,” said Mr Soi.

He said that even if the seeds were available from the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute and Agricultural Development Corporation farms, the growers cannot afford them.

Demand compensation

The farmers are demanding compensation from the government for the ruined crop, he said.

Mr Soi spoke at his farm in Keunchusiek village where he was assessing the damage.

His family members were not available for interview “as they are engaged in other domestic chores to raise some income”.

Another farmer, Mr Joseph Kipngetich Kerich of Koma village, Bomet Central division, said he was unable to send his daughter back to a medical college in Nakuru as he could not raise the required Sh70,000 fees.

Mr Kerich said he had other children in local secondary schools for whom he was struggling to raise fees. Besides, he had other financial obligations.

The grower said the disease had destroyed maize on more than two acres. According to him, the crop would have earned him more than Sh80,000 had there been an harvest.

“I have now resorted  to plucking the green leaf on my farm and selling it to hawkers or middlemen at throwaway prices so that I can get money to feed my 11 children,” said Mr Kerich.

The Nation traced Mr Kerich to his farm where he was accompanied by his first-born son, Kenneth Ngetich, who has since dropped from school.

They were on a portion of land where they had previously destroyed the infested maize.