Agriculture is the engine of economic growth in Kenya, and a valuable source of income for the majority of Kenyans. About 75 percent of Kenyans derive all or part of their livelihoods from the sector.
Wefarm, which provides more than a million East African smallholders with a digital platform for share farming knowhow, has launched the monthly Champion Farmer initiative to reward farmers who are individually driving forwards Kenya’s agricultural productivity through information sharing.
Wefarm’s latest Champion farmer winner,Bonfese Wanjala, a maize farmer from Siaya, won Ksh10,000 of farm inputs as well as his Champion Farmer title.
Bonfese says he had reached a point of giving up but he learned about Wefarm and that was a turning point, with the knowledge he then gained from posting questions to other farmers rapidly transforming his yields, into a harvest of 35 60kg bags of maize in one season from his one acre.
“Interacting with other farmers through Wefarm helped me learn how to till land during the rainy seasons; that Pioneer seeds are best suited for short rains season, while H614 and H612 seeds are best used during the long rains season; how to prevent Fall Armyworm pest and Stringa weed from invading my crops, and when to use solid and liquid fertilisers,” said Bonfese.
The change was so dramatic that Bonfese readily engaged with the Wefarm Champion Farmer challenge when it turned to maize farming as the monthly theme chosen based on trending issues and crop seasonality.
The kind of help he offered included advising one farmer who lived a long way from a water source that the best fertilizer to use was organic foliar, because it comes in liquid form that makes its absorption faster than synthetic fertilizer, which is solid and requires a lot of water for absorption.
“Farmers are often the best and most relevant source of information and experience for their fellow farmers. It is for this reason that we have invested so heavily in creating a platform to facilitate cross sharing, through Wefarm and the Champion Farmer initiative,” said Kenny Ewan, CEO Wefarm.
In fact, Bonfese’s contribution brought in more new farmers and the highest levels of engagement of any of the participating maize farming contributors.
Moreover, his win comes as the industry has suffered a concerted flight by farmers, on losses, crop pests and diseases, lack of storage and poor markets. Last year, maize production in Kenya dropped by 32 per cent, from five million bags in 2016 to 3.7 million in 2017, due to crop infestations and diseases.