Sorghum, one of the ‘Climate Change Ready’ crops

Photo credit: ICRISAT

Members of a farmers group in Wote, eastern Kenya, evaluating their Sorghum trial field.
Photo: Christine angari, ICRISAT

Go for sorghum, say climate smart Kenyan farmers

EXCERPT

Sorghum assures us of nutritious food for our families as well as cattle; sorghum fetches a better price than maize and gives more yield per acre. Sorghum has changed our lives for the better… say farmers in Wote, eastern Kenya, who have adopted sorghum-legume technologies instead of the traditional maize-bean intercrop. The farmers were addressing a group of journalists who visited their farms recently.

In 2013, the planting season in Gongo, Kenya started with heavy rains. But just as quickly as the rains had arrived, they faded. – http://oneacrefund.org/uploads/all-files/_DSC0198.jpg

“Sorghum adapts well to a wide range of environmental and soil fertility conditions and is considered to be one of the ‘Climate Change Ready’ crops. Also sorghum and legume cropping systems have inherent resilience to drought and therefore enhance food and nutrition security for households in the drylands,” said Mr Patrick Sheunda, Research Assistant, ICRISAT.

One of the three field trial sites for Moi University – https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQOcCiNwcX7UZG5DqhNRL4PzpS6kf_ODaa_29InRQoGy59jXboO

Based on these findings, a group of partners which included the Kenyan Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO); the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Government of Kenya; and ICRISAT introduced sorghum and two legume crops (cowpea and green gram), with inherent resilience to drought, to improve the livelihoods of poor smallholder farmers. The project has so far reached 366 farmers in Wote, who have adopted the sorghum-legume cropping system.

Read the full article: ICRISAT