FARMERS TRAINING ON GOOD AGRICULTURAL

PRACTICES (GAP)

KISUMU, BUSIA AND KISII COUNTIES

JANUARY 2018

Introduction Sugarcane production system’s effectiveness depends largely on the key players involved in the

production within the sugar industry. Sugar Research Institute (SRI) being one of the players

embraces training as a tool to build capacity of sugarcane farmers and other stakeholders on the

Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in sugarcane growing areas for enhanced productivity and

sustainability.

SRI in collaboration with the county government of Busia, Kisumu and Kisii counties organized

for a five (5) day farmers training on good agricultural practices as follows:

No. Date County Venue

1. 18th to 22nd December 2017 Busia county Kakamega Multipurpose training centre

2. 8th to 12th January 2018 Kisumu

County

Maseno Agricultural Training centre

3. 22nd to 26th January 2018 Kisii County Kisii Agricultural training centre

The training activity was jointly funded by the European Union (EU) under the Sugar Reforms

for Support Project (SRSP) component.

The training sessions were graced by the following personalities:

The Director, SRI,

The Center Director, SRI-Kibos

The Head of Technology Transfer, SRI

The Head of SRSP, SRI

County government officials

Ward Administrators

The Principal, Kakamega multipurpose training centre

The Principal, Maseno ATC

The Principal, Kisii ATC

Objective

The overall objective of the training was to enhance capacity of the farmers on all aspects of

appropriate and good agricultural practices.

Specific Objectives

The specific training objective included to:-

1. Educate farmers on good agricultural practices on sugarcane production with a view to

Increase sugarcane yields through dissemination and adoption of appropriate sugarcane

production technologies and innovation

2. Increase sugarcane yields through adoption of appropriate sugarcane production

technologies

3. Educate farmers on technologies that have been generated by SRI and their application in

sugarcane production.

4. Educate farmers on their roles and that of other players in the sugarcane production value

chain

5. Educate farmers on challenges in sugarcane farming as a business

6. Enhance diffusion and adoption of improved sugarcane varieties

7. Educate farmers on enterprise diversification programmes with a view to Improve food

security and general livelihood

8. Strengthening the capacity of small scale farmers in order to achieve sustainable

agriculture and improved food security.

9. Educate farmers on soil & water conservation and environmental management for

sustainable productivity.

Farmers’ Expectation on Training

Before commencement of the training, farmers’ expectation regarding the training was sought.

The following were their expectation:-

1. To gain knowledge and skills on sugarcane production technologies

2. To use knowledge acquired to empower other farmers

3. To learn changes in the Sugar Industry

4. To learn changes in farming technologies

5. To be educated on new sugarcane varieties

6. To put into practices technologies learnt during the session

7. To learn about Sugarcane pest & diseases

8. To learn about enterprise diversification

9. To be issued with participation certificates

10. To get empowerment in monetary value

Facilitation Mode

The facilitators for the training were drawn from the institute’s pool of Research Assistants who

achieved the objective through power point presentation conducted via use of the following

facilitation modes:-

i. Lectures

ii. Case studies

iii. Plenary discussion

iv. Questions and answers

v. Teaching aids (photographs and video)

vi. Field excursions

Findings

The total number of sugarcane farmers trained during the period was 138. The table below shows

distribution per County and gender.

County Male Female TOTAL

Busia 38 12 50

Kisumu 29 9 38

Kisii 38 12 50

TOTAL 105 33 138

Distribution per county

The figure below show farmers distribution by county; 36% were from Kisii, 36% from Busia

and 28% from Kisumu county.

Distribution per county

Distribution by Gender

The figure below shows the distribution of the participants by gender. In particular, 24% of the

participants were female while 76% of the participants were male.

Busia36%

Kisumu28%

Kisii36%

DISTRIBUTION PER COUNTY

Gender distribution by county

The graph below show gender distribution by the counties

Gender distribution by county

Male76%

Female24%

DISTRIBUTION BY GENDER

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Busia Kisumu Kisii

Chart Title

Male Female

Topics covered During the five day long training farmers were educated on all aspects of Sugarcane production.

The topics included:-

1. Soil Sampling& Sampling techniques

2. Harvesting and Transport

3. Ratoon Management

4. Role of out growers Institution

5. Variety Identification

6. Seed cane Selection

7. Fertilizer application, rate, type and methods

8. Common Sugarcane weeds and their management

9. Seed cane Multiplication

10. Sugarcane Pest and its control

11. Sugarcane diseases and its control

12. Soil and its Management

13. Variety recommendation by zones

14. Soil and water Conservation

15. Environment Conservation

16. Enterprise diversification

17. Group dynamic

18. E-service in KALRO/SRI

19. Information access and management

20. Land Preparation

21. Cane establishment

22. Role of Farmer Research Groups

23. Irrigation Methods

24. Drainage

25. Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) in sugarcane production

26. Keeping Farm Records

No. Facilitator Topics Covered

1

Kennedy Yegon

Soil Sampling&

Sampling

techniques

- Indigenous plants/vegetation that describe the

status of Soil fertility

- Importance of Soil Sampling & testing

- Soil sampling tools& accessories

- Soil Sampling procedure& Instruction

- Consideration during sampling

- Frequency of sampling& testing

Harvesting and

Transport

- Sugarcane harvesting procedure

- Cutting procedure

- Safe cutting procedure

- Ideal harvesting Standards

- In field and transit cane losses

- Harvested cane transportation

Ratoon

Management

- Benefits of Ratoon crops compared to plant

crop

- Recommended Ratoon Management practices

- Trash alignment methods

- Advantages of trash in Ratoon management Role of out growers

Institution

- Definition of Out grower Institutions

- Structure & membership

- Objective of the Institutions/Mandate

- Roles & responsibilities of the various players 2

Gabriel Bor

Land Preparation

- Factors considered when selecting sugarcane

field

- Objective of land preparation

- Factors influencing the type of land

preparation

- Source of power for land preparation

- Factors influencing choice of land preparation

implements

- Categories of land preparation

- Stages of land preparation

- Appropriate ploughing, harrowing, furrowing

and ridging standards Cane establishment - Objective of timely planting

- Principles of Good crop Establishment

- Sugarcane planting Material

- Sugarcane planting methods and their

Suitability, Merits and demerits

- Recommended Sugarcane establishment

standards

-

3

Marygorreti Okal

Variety

Identification

- Reasons for having different varieties

- Criteria used to identify Sugarcane

Identification

- Different sugarcane Varieties their features,

morphology and general characteristics

Seed cane Selection

- Meaning of seed

- Attributes of ideal Seed material

- Seed cane selection criteria

4

Eliud Ombok

Fertilizer

application, rate,

type and methods

- Definition of fertilizer

- Type of fertilizers

- Rates of fertilizer application by zone

- Methods of fertilizer application

- Macro nutrients

- Micronutrients

- Role of potassium in Sugarcane production

- Nitrogenous fertilizers and role of Nitrogen in

crop development

- Fertilizer deficiency symptoms

Common Sugarcane

weeds and their

management

- Definition of weeds

- Economic importance of weeds

- Common Sugarcane weeds

- Factors influencing weeds survival

- Classification of weeds

- Major weeds of Sugarcane

- Critical period of weed-crop competition

- Method of weed control

- Integrated weed management Seed cane

Multiplication

- Origin & distribution of Sugarcane

- Sugarcane fuzz and its role in sugarcane

development

- Sugarcane germplasm

- Objective of Sugarcane improvement

- Improved Sugarcane varieties developed by

SRI

- Multiplication of Seed cane and collaborating

institutions

- Selection of parents

- Seed cane preparation and treatment

- Farmer as Seed cane producer

- Identification & requirement for Seed cane

farmers

- Seed cane nursery

- Seed cane harvesting and distribution

- Single eye bud technology

-

5

Kennedy Ngutu

Sugarcane Pest and

its control

- Termites

- Borers

- Moles

- White grubs

- Primates

- Sugarcane scales

- Sugarcane aphids

Sugarcane diseases

and its control

- Ratoon stunting disease covering its mode of

transmission spread, symptoms and

management

- Sugarcane Mosaic virus covering its mode of

transmission& spread, symptoms and

management

- Sugarcane leaf yellow virus covering its mode

of transmission& spread, symptoms and

management

- General methods used to control spread of

diseases 6

Joyce Makhokha

Soil and its

Management

- Meaning of Soil

- Function of Soil

- Factors that affect Soil formation &

development

- Soil component

- Soil type

- Soil suitable for sugarcane growing

- Spoil Physical Suitability parameters

- Soil sampling & testing

- Soil nutrients that influence yields

- Soil loss

- Effects of Soil erosion

- Soil management Variety

recommendation by

zones

- Overview of major Sugarcane varieties in

Kenya

- Potential impact of New varieties in the Sugar

Industry

- Features of Sugarcane varieties released by

SRI to date

- Varieties suitable for Kakamega County Soil and water

Conservation

- Description of Soil and water conservation

process

- Application measures

- Conservation measures

- Soil & water conservation measures

- Water harvesting& its advantages and

mitigation measures

- Water storage

- Features of water pan 7

Rashid Katama

Enterprise

diversification

- Objective of Enterprise diversification

- Factors influencing diversification

- Drivers of diversification

- Benefits of diversification

- Factors considered in diversification

- Examples of Enterprise Combination

Group dynamic - Definition of a group and what Group dynamic

involves

- Process/Stages of Group

development/Evolution

- Characteristics of a Group

- Types of Groups

- Factors affecting Group behavior

- What causes poor Group performance

- Turning Groups into effective teams

- Strategies for improving team dynamics

- Factors responsible for success of Groups Environment

Conservation

- Description and definition of environment

- Impact of environment degradation

- Consequences of not conserving the

environment

- Environmental issues in Kenya 8

Lilian Odongo

E-service in

KALRO/SRI

- What is E-service

- Why E-Service in SRI

- Electronic Access mechanisms

- The Social media

- The SRI website

- E-Repository

Information access

and management

- What is Information management

- Rationale for availing information &

knowledge

- Information Access mechanisms

- Steps to managing information

- The essence of information management 9

George Adoyo

Cost Benefit

Analysis (CBA) in

sugarcane

production

- Definition of CBA

- Uses of CBA

- Advantages of using CBA

- Designing a CBA

- Cost Analysis

- Benefit Analysis

- Case examples: Mumias, Nzoia, Sony,

Transmara, Nyando and Soin sugar zones

Keeping Farm

Records

- Definition

- Categories

- Examples of the types

- Importance of farm records

- Application of farm records Irrigation Methods

- Over view of irrigation in Kenya

- Description and meaning of irrigation

- When should irrigation take place

- Factors to consider when designing for

irrigation system

- Choice of irrigation method

- Irrigation methods

- System maintenance

- Benefits of irrigation Drainage

- Description of drainage process and its

meaning

- Effects of excess water in farms

- Factors to consider when designing for a

drainage system

- Types of drainage 10

Samuel Wasula

Evaluation - Training Evaluation

Issues raised by the farmers during the training During the training the farmers raised issues that affect Sugarcane production within the Counties. They noted that some services and operations offered by the milling companies were far below the expected standards, that they were being educated on. Some of the matters raised included:- 1. Delayed payment of sugarcane harvested and supplied to the miller. 2. Non supply of inputs (Fertilizer) by the miller 3. High cost of inputs 4. Poor services by cane cutters contractors 5. Poor seed cane supply

Suggestions During the training the farmers noted that there was need for SRI to undertake the following:- 1. Follow up and evaluation of the trained farmers in order to assess the impact of such

trainings 2. SRI to form more Farmer Research Groups in sugarcane growing zones, especially the

trained farmers 3. SRI to advice millers on appropriate Sugarcane Best Management Standards

Conclusion

The Institute achieved its objective by training 138 participants from the counties; at end of training all the farmers trained were awarded certificates of participation and packaged information on good agricultural practices on crop management. Farmers were urged to practice lessons learnt from the workshop so as to improve on sugarcane farming for increased production and sustainable yields. This was an excellent approach and therefore the institute should organize for more trainings to other areas so as to increase adoption of technologies and improve on management of cane. Report by: Lillian Odongo ICT - Documentation