by Bedah Mengo
NAIROBI, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Samuel Ambuche, a maize farmer in Bungoma, western Kenya, is anxious as the clock ticks towards September.
The month is usually the crop's harvesting season, but this time round, Ambuche who planted maize and beans on five acres is assured of a poor yield.
The odds have been heavily against him and other farmers in Kenya, with maize farming facing several hurdles this season.
"Last season things were a little better because the only challenge we faced was poor fertiliser, which we corrected in time but the rains were adequate. This season we have been fighting two major challenges: inadequate rains and fall armyworms," he said.
Growing maize has become such a major challenge for smallholder farmers in the East African nation that many now consider the grain a cursed crop.
Each season Ambuche faces a myriad of challenges, some beyond his control, and it is becoming almost impossible to grow the crop.
Kenya's Ministry of Agriculture announced invasion of fall armyworms in the country in April, about a month since the pest had been detected by farmers.
The pest has infested thousands of acres in breadbasket regions in Rift Valley and western Kenya and has since spread to other areas like Central, Nyanza and the Coast targeting mainly maize.
A variety of other crops were also under threat, including cereals such as sorghum, millet, rice, millet, wheat and barley, putting Kenya's food security at risk.
Pasture grasses, vegetables, legumes, bananas, tomatoes, capsicum, ginger, spinach, amaranth, onions, sugar beet, citrus, cucumber and sunflower have also been attacked.
The ministry in conjunction with county governments has allocated millions of U.S. dollars to purchase chemicals to help farmers fight the pest.
"I got the chemicals from the county government and even bought others myself, and dedicatedly sprayed my crops, but the pest have been on and off. I spray, they disappear for about three weeks, and reappear once again. One has to keep on spraying, we were told," said Ambuche, noting currently the armyworms have disappeared on his farm.
On the other front, Ambuche, like many other farmers in the region and across the country, has to tackle inadequate rains that threaten to heap losses on struggling farmers.
"I have lost hope on maize farming. I planted the crop on two acres and now all of it has withered because of poor rains," said Bernard Njuguna, a farmer in Rongai in Nakuru.
Njuguna had counted himself lucky as his crop was not affected by the fall armyworms, but the scarce rain still battered his hope for a bumpy harvest.
"The rains disappeared sometime early May when I had top dressed my crops, this is despite them coming late. This is usually a critical stage when the crops need a lot of water, the reason why they have withered," said Njuguna.
His plight is shared by many farmers in the country where it has rained erratically for the last two seasons.
And as the maize matures for the lucky farmers, they would again have to contend with a poor market despite high cost of production.
This season, production costs have doubled as farmers spend lots of resources on fighting armyworms.
However, as previous experiences show, the market would not be willing to reimburse farmers the expenses by buying their produce at premium prices.
Last season, the government offered farmers 30 dollars for each 90-kg bag despite the producers pleading for more.
Kenya is facing a huge maize deficit that has raised prices to 46 dollars per bag, pushing millions of households on the edge, but a lot of importation is going on currently that by the time farmers harvest in September, prices would have dropped.
Kenya consumes up to 4 million bags of maize every month, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, with the country producing only 40 million bags annually, while the rest is imported.
"Farmers may not reap good prices for their produce this season as the government allowed duty-free importation of maize which will flood the market. The fact is that struggling farmers may not sell their produce at more than 27 dollars come September," said Bernard Moina, an agricultural extension officer in Kitale, a breadbasket region.
He noted that maize growing in Kenya has become a taxing affair due to the numerous challenges farmers' face.
"Perhaps it is time the Kenyan farmer considers growing other crops as maize growing becomes untenable. With all these challenges, it may even be cheaper for the country to import maize than grow it," he said.
