USAID Kaves Technical Director George Odingo address the press during the USAID-KAVES Western Regional Closeout Conference at Busia Agricultural Training Centre, November 30, 2017. [Photo/Busia County Government]United States Agency International Development KAVES (Kenya Agricultural Value Chain Enterprises Project) has expressed disappointment at the scarcity of White Sorghum in Western Kenya despite high demand for the crop in the country.Speaking during the USAID-KAVES Western Regional Closeout Conference, KAVES Technical Director, George Odingo said sorghum is a big crop in the region with a ready market but a majority of the farmers have not embraced its production."Kenya Breweries are using white sorghum in beer production. Farmers in the region should capitalize on commercial farming to reap from sorghum production," he said, Thursday.Busia Deputy Governor Moses Mulomi was also present during the event at Busia Agricultural Training Centre.Kisumu County Crops Officer Dominic Otieno said there is a ready market for white sorghum seeds from KALRO and Seeds company but the major undoing is that the region has no commercial farmers by nature.He said there is need to embrace sorghum production which he said is drought escapist (resistant) crop compared to maize which cannot tiller during drought spell. The issue of foul armyworms also featured during the regional closeout conference. Otieno said the best way to manage the pest is to apply the push and pull technology where disodium (fodder crop) is planted along rows of maize and sorghum while Napier grass is planted outside the farm."Napier grass will break the larvae of the moth which lay eggs while desmodium will produce chemicals which will kill the seeds of stringer weeds. Farmers should also be vigilant on their farms and eliminate them at an early stage," he said.Ondigo said foul armyworms that originated from South America are there to stay compared to the African Army Worms popularly known as "Kungu" because of their reproductive nature.He said research should be undertaken to manage the foul armyworms but not to eradicate it. The use of the Integrated Pest Management technology should be embraced.Kitale County Chief Officer for Agriculture Mary Nzomo, said they will hold a symposium on December 7-8 to give a strategy on how to fight the foul armyworms and to push the government to allow farmers to use BT seeds maize variety which is resistant to foul armyworms.

Share news tips with us here at Hivisasa