Category: Genebanks

This one really raises more questions than it answers. An article in Kenya’s The Nation newspaper, reprinted by allAfrica.com, says that:

The Government Monday donated traditional crop seeds to farmers as it moved to ensure food security.

So the first question is: seeds of traditional crops or traditional seeds of traditional crops? Ok, probably the former. Then:

The seeds released Thursday were destined for western Kenya which is experiencing poor rains.

Well, western Kenya has experienced poor rains before, and I never heard of such government munificence before. Ah, but:

Production of these crops has declined due to unavailability of planting materials, little interest from seed companies due to low demand and low investment in research.

The crops which do well in dry areas have also been affected by limited knowledge among farmers, change of eating habits and limited knowledge on agro-processing to add value and improve marketability of the crops.

Well, very true, but all that’s been the case for ages. So, probably politics, I guess. Ruto is from the opposition party, and western Kenya is an opposition stronghold, although he’s not from there. No, wait, that’s too cynical, here’s the explanation for the urgency:

“We have been informed that Kenya Breweries Limited require 24,000 tonnes of white sorghum per year for brewing lager. Towards this, we will be distributing over 100 tonnes of white sorghum seeds in 62 districts,” Mr Ruto said.

Anyway, what varieties were used? It would be nice to think that maybe the Genebank of Kenya was involved in sourcing diverse, locally adapted material, but somehow I doubt it.