Researcher banks on wheat handbook to add output

The handbook seeks to correct mistakes that farmers make in managing wheat crop. PHOTO | FILE

The Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation's (Kalro) national wheat breeding centre at Njoro, Nakuru County, will release a wheat handbook next month in a bid to boost production.

According to Kalro Njoro Centre Director Immaculate Maina, the book, Kenya Wheat Production Handbook, takes farmers through the entire journey from land preparation to harvesting.

Dr Maina said unlike other technical books, the latest is an extension manual that farmers can easily comprehend and implement.

“This book is compiled by a team of more than 20 scientists from Kalro and is supposed to help in increasing wheat production among our smallholder and large-scale farmers,” said Dr Maina.

She said while scientists at Kalro produce high yielding seeds to meet demand, the same has not translated into high yields once they are acquired by producers.

“This book is supposed to correct some of the simple mistakes that farmers do in terms of managing the crop from planting to harvesting and, therefore, helps to boost production and reap from the benefit of good science,” said Dr Maina.

She said the book has topics on new wheat variety development, maintenance of good seeds, crop management, diseases, mainly rust, and how farmers can control pests.

“It will help farmers to know how to monitor pests in the field and post instruction of post-wheat harvest management, processing and the recipe that can be made out of the wheat,” said Dr Maina.

The book, he said, has been written in simple English, devoid of technical jargon to enable the farmer follow all the procedures of good wheat husbandry.

She said plans were under way to translate it into Kiswahili.