New cowpea and fodder varieties to boost food security in Wajir

Farmers in Wajir are being introduced to improved cowpea, pasture and fodder varieties as researchers seek agricultural technologies capable of supporting food and livestock production in one of Kenya’s most challenging dryland environments.

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The trials, conducted by the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, are evaluating crops and animal feeds that can withstand high temperatures, poor soils, unreliable rainfall and limited water resources.

The initiative is being implemented under the Food Systems Resilience Project, a government programme co-funded by the World Bank and the national government, with support from the county government of Wajir.

It forms part of wider efforts to strengthen food security and livestock production in arid and semi-arid lands by promoting agricultural technologies that can remain productive despite increasingly unpredictable weather conditions.

Through demonstration farms established in different parts of the county, Kalro researchers are assessing how various crop and fodder varieties perform under local conditions, including sandy soils, high temperatures, limited water and erratic rainfall.

Last Friday, a team led by researcher Beatrice Ng'ang'a visited a demonstration farm in Kalkalcha West, Wajir West, where 10 cowpea varieties are being evaluated.

Ng'ang'a said researchers first collected soil and water samples before establishing the demonstration plots to determine the characteristics of the environment in which the crops would be grown.

Water quality is particularly important because many farmers depend on shallow wells for irrigation, she said, noting that saline water can interfere with crop development.

“Continued use of saline water could affect crop production. These trials will help researchers identify cowpea varieties with greater tolerance to the prevailing conditions.”

The sandy nature of Wajir’s soils presents another challenge because such soils have limited capacity to retain water, while high temperatures increase water loss through evapotranspiration.

Despite the constraints, Ng'ang'a said some cowpea varieties had shown encouraging results, reaching maturity in about 60 days.

The relatively short growing period could make cowpea useful to dryland households seeking food crops that can mature within a limited rainfall window.

Kalro has established additional cowpea demonstration plots in Wagala Gunyure, Ibrahim Ure, Horof Harar and Wagberi wards, among other areas, allowing farmers to observe how the different technologies perform locally.

Agronomist Charles Muriuki said the demonstrations were intended to identify technologies that farmers could practically adopt in areas where conventional agriculture is constrained by climate and water shortages.

“Wajir county is usually faced by very harsh environmental conditions and very erratic rainfall. Cowpea was among the crops selected for testing because it has relatively low rainfall requirements and is known to perform under dryland conditions,” Muriuki said.

Cowpea also fixes atmospheric nitrogen, which can contribute to improving soil fertility, while its short maturity period allows households to obtain food before slower-maturing crops such as sorghum and millet are ready.

One of the farms hosting the trials is operated by farmer Halima Kahia in Kalkalcha West.

Kahia started the farm in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic while working from home as a journalist. What began as an activity during the period later developed into a family farming enterprise.

She subsequently began working with the county agriculture department and Kalro, turning the farm into a platform for demonstrating cowpea and fodder technologies.

Kahia said most of the cowpea varieties had performed well.

“So far so good. The ten varieties of cowpea have done very well, except for very few of them, which did not grow as planned,” she said.

The farm is also being used to demonstrate fodder varieties, including sweet potato vines, teff and two types of sorghum, one for food production and another for livestock forage.

Kahia said increased investment in fodder production could ease pressure on natural grazing areas and help pastoral households maintain livestock during prolonged dry spells.

“If we invest really in pasture, this being an arid area, and during the drought we have been losing our livestock because of lack of pasture,” she said.

Kalro researcher Dr Fred Kemboi said inadequate pasture and forage remained among the major challenges limiting livestock productivity in Wajir.

Researchers are testing improved pasture and fodder varieties including Bush rye, Cenchrus ciliaris, Boma Rhodes and Maasai love grass. They are also testing two forage sorghum varieties, one dual-purpose variety and another specifically intended for forage production.

Kemboi said some of the fodder could be conserved as hay, while forage sorghum could be processed into silage, enabling farmers to store feed when pasture is plentiful and use it during shortages.

The improved fodder could also support farmers interested in livestock finishing and feedlot systems by providing a more dependable source of feed.

“The grasses that our pastoralists are using, moving one animal from one place to another, cannot support finishing or feedlot,” Kemboi said.

The trials are part of wider government efforts to improve agricultural resilience in arid and semi-arid counties, where unreliable rainfall, drought, water shortages and declining grazing resources continue to threaten food and livestock production.

INSTANT ANALYSIS

The Wajir trials offer a practical response to the harsh realities facing farmers and pastoralists in dryland counties. By testing crops and fodder under local soil, water and weather conditions, researchers can identify technologies with a realistic chance of adoption. The focus on short-maturing cowpea and drought-tolerant fodder is particularly relevant as erratic rainfall and prolonged dry spells continue to threaten food supplies, livestock and household livelihoods.