CROPMON Final Meeting- Safari Park Hotel 20th

August, 2019CROPMON Value to Maize Sub-Sector

Presentation by; Oswald Miriti (Project Manager- CGA)

Presentation Outline

CGA Introduction Agronomic Challenges Facing Maize Production Solutions by CROPMON Testimonies Challenges during Implementation Way forward

Who is CGA?• CGA is a National non-profit member-based farmer

organization incorporated in 1996.• Its main purpose is to bring together commercial cereal farmers

to promote collective action for the sustained improvement oftheir farming enterprises and in addressing industry challengesin Kenya.

• CGA is in 24 counties working with over 180,000 farmers.

Introduction It has been estimated that global

agricultural production will have to increase by 60% or more by 2050. Some projections suggest a particularly high demand for maize over other cereal crops. To meet this increasing demand, it will require around 2.4% per year increase in yield.

The current global yield increase for maize goes as low as 1.6%, well below the rate required.

Therefore, productivity need to be more efficient, profitable and sustainable.

CROPMON has been working with maize producers (both grain and fodder maizeproducers).• Registered farmers=114,030• CGA is working with grain maize producers while EGF is working with both grain

and fodder producers; CGA is also working with wheat producers.

Agronomic Challenges Facing Maize Production

Climate change Pests and diseases Poor/degraded soil quality Limited extension services Lack of proper information

on input usage

Solutions by CROPMON The introduction of CROPMON services

through mobile phone has helped farmers

to enjoy better access to information by:

Reaching more farmers with timely

and accurate (weather, pest &

diseases etc)

Providing information on the right

farming practices aimed at restoring

the soil nutrients.

Testimonies‘’ I have increased my maize production from

19 bags (90kgs) to 23 bags per acre. I

planted at the right time because of the

advice I got and did timely farm activities like

topdressing, weeding and spraying among

others,’’ Alfred Chemweno from Elgeyo

Marakwet he attributes this to

CROPMON weather and soil testing.

Services.

‘’Initially, I have been relying on what other

elite farmers have been doing. It was my

belief that the top farmers have elaborate

weather prediction system, only to discover

they didn’t, I made so many mistakes .

Therefore, my operations (planting and

managing farm) was not predictable. With

CROPMON I have now stopped doing guess

work, I plan my farming activities well. This

has made me increase my farm

productivity’’ Christopher Koech (Narok

County)

Ferdinand Makhanu a farmer in BungomaCounty, has been benefiting fromCROPMON information service sinceJanuary 2018. Prior to CROPMONengagement, Ferdinand has been involved inMaize farming that was not doing well dueto inappropriate technologies, pre/postharvesting losses and getting less than 10bags in his 1.5 acres. After registering intothe CROPMON information service,Ferdinand has been able to do properplanning (land preparation, planting, pestsand diseases control, harvesting etc.) on thefarm. The farmer harvested 34 bags duringthe 2018 season. The harvest was attributedto regular follow up on weather predictionand crop management advice. With the helpof CROPMON service and field supervisor(CGA), Ferdinand is expecting more than40 bags this season. Weather prediction hasalso assisted the farmer to manage othernon-registered crops in his farm.

Challenges During Implementation• Registering farmers takes a long process due to; impassable

roads during rainy seasons, taking polygon for big farms etc.• Some farmers were not willing to give out the necessary

information for registration.• Male farmers are majority decisions makers and most were

not available during day time to be registered.• Farmers kept on changing farm fields every seasons ( rotation)

which required repeat reregistration.

Way Forward• Equipping extension officers, lead farmers with necessary tools and

knowledge would contribute greatly to enhancing trust and use of

CROPMON technology.• Networking among CROPMON service providers and agricultural

service providers. This will bring more players on board, enhance fulldevelopment and adoption of CROPMON service thus reach morefarmers.