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Kenya decries low food output despite hybrid seed adoption

Xinhua, February 9, 2017 Adjust font size:

Kenya on Wednesday decried low food production despite increasing adoption of hybrid seed varieties.

Agriculture Principal Secretary Richard Lesiyampe said despite the fact that farmers in Kenya have adopted over 250 maize hybrid varieties, they have not realized the expected gain due to low inputs and poor agronomic practices.

"Adoption of improved seed varieties is recognized as a key driver in improving productivity and addressing food security. But the farmers are not using inputs, mainly fertilizer, adequately, thus leading to low food production," he told an agricultural forum in Nairobi.

"Kenya farmers depend on both formal and informal seed systems, with the later accounting for over 80 percent of total seed used in the country and even a much higher percentage in ASA," Lesiyampe said in a speech read on his behalf by Mary Karanja in charge of traditional high value crops during a conference organized by the Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and development.

Tegemeo Institute, an agricultural think tank, was releasing preliminary findings of a research on Enhancing Smallholder Productivity in Kenya: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) of New Seed Varieties.

Lesiyampe said the Kenya seed requirement for maize alone is about 35,000 tonnes per annum, which the local production companies are able to meet.

Tegemeo Institute Director Mary Mathenge said agricultural productivity is still decreasing even as the companies continue producing more hybrid seeds.

"Major impediment to low agricultural productivity is lack of and low use of productivity enhancing inputs mainly chemicals, fertilizers, improved seed and pesticides. This is due to unavailability of liquid capital to finance such expenditure, risk averse nature of small scale farmers and low returns to input use," said Mathenge.

She added that productivity of maize stands at 1.6 tonnes per hectare against a potential of 6 metric tonnes.

Timothy Njagi, a fellow researcher with Tegemeo Institute stated that released hybrid maize seed varieties is not well monitored to check their performance. He said distribution of subsidized fertilizer and seeds should be streamlined so that farmers are able to use them at the right time.

Njagi observed even though extension services are a devolved function there is need for close collaboration by all the value chain players. Endit