Maize disease threaten livelihoods in Bomet County

By Bett Kipsang’

A ravaging Maize disease has crumbled the hopes of harvesting for many farmers in Bomet County this season. The strange disease has infected swaths of acreage of corn fields, threatening food security in the area and the country at large. Chebole Sub-location is one of the worst hit places. Many farmers are counting losses after banking all their money, energy and time on maize farms expecting high yields as usual. That was not going to be the case this year! Farmers have suffered heavy losses.

Maize plant infected with maize lethalnecrosis disease

 (MLND)

Paul Langat 45, a maize farmer planted in January as he had routinely done for the last 27 years. He recalls buying ‘‘certified seeds’’ from a licensed dealer. “I bought Hybrid Maize number 614 which is planted in this place from a dealer certified by the Kenya Seed Company. I tilled my land at a cost of Ksh 6000 for both 1^st and 2^nd tillage. Since I could not get subsidized fertilizer I had to buy a 50kg bag at Ksh 4,000 and used Ksh 4,000 to weed the farm. I have spent more than twenty thousand shillings only for the tragedy to strike,” Paul lamented.

Six months down the line Paul went back to his farm. This time round not to harvest or reap green maize but to slash them down and feed them on livestock. He has never witnessed such a thing since 1985 when he started farming.

 He remembers very well the genesis of the disease. The Maize turned yellow starting from the top drying downwards. Those which had carried cobs had the leaves around the cob drying up and the maize cob start to rot inside! Later, the stock becomes weak and rots, eventually making the plant to succumb to the wasting disease.

Paul usually harvests 16 bags from his one  acre farm. This year he will see none of it, he is a hopeless man! Being a family man he has never known hunger in his household and he has real fears over what lies ahead of him. He stakes his hopes on the government that it will intervene and address their plight. However, from the recent turn of events, his hopes have been dashed after the minister for Agriculture; Dr. Sally Kosgei visited Bomet County. ‘‘She never gave any tangible solution to curb the problem’’ said Paul. Recently-subsidized fertilizer were issued in the area but were allegedly sold by those giving out.

Paul has been farming maize for both subsistence and commercial purposes. He is a very worried man because his children are in primary school; they need food, fees and other items. One of his children is expected to join secondary school next year. He blames the Ministry of Agriculture for doing little to alleviate their woes. Allegedly, the ministry has not been facilitating efficient distribution of information in the area. 

They rarely conduct field days. According to Paul, the last field day was held near his village more than a year ago. ''The officers are not pro-active, they only identify a hard working farmer and parade themselves in the farm to claim credit where it is not due for them'' He said. Farmers in the area suspect on the branded certified seeds. ‘‘In fact those who planted seeds right from their stores are better off than those who went for the certified ones’’ Paul observed.

Paul is pleading for government intervention, i.e. to provide information on the suitable crops to plant and supply alternative crops like sorghum and beans together with fertilizer so that they can replant. 

Amazingly, the little sorghum he had planted to supplement flour in his family did very well. He only wishes that he would have opted for sorghum instead of maize had he known the predicament lying ahead. This is already a pointer for the direction farmers may take in the future to avoid the maize disease.

One only wonders about the role of government agencies. Kenya Bureau of Standards and the Kenya Seed Company have done very little as much as they are charged with quality control measures. ‘‘How could fake seeds find their way into the hands of the farmers without their hawk eyes realizing it?’’ Paul wondered.

The other viable activity in the area is dairy farming. However, milk prices are unpredictable; prices are high during the dry season but now very low due to oversupply occasioned by plenty pasture. This has also discouraged many farmers and they feel abandoned by the government.

Political activities are at a boiling point in Bomet County, but Paul is not moved. He vows to give a wide berth this time round to the electoral process since the political class has turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to their plight. He claims that, theirs is only to increase their perks and leave them agonizing with farming problems yet they know agriculture is the sole source of livelihood for the people of Bomet.

On behalf of many farmers affected by the disease, Paul is pleading for immediate intervention by the government to avert a food crisis and resulting poverty.