Compared to other cereals such as rice and wheat, finger millet comes heavily loaded with higher protein content of a relatively better quality. Millet is also exceptionally rich in calcium, has high fibre and due to slow digestibility of its carbohydrates, it is one of the suitable foods for diabetes. For moms, millet makes a good weaning meal for babies.
Besides the high nutritional value,
other factors that drew farmers to it include its ability to survive in areas
that were deemed too hot for other crops in its family like sorghum. It also
requires less input. Millet is less susceptible to pests and diseases. Traditionally,
the cereal had a lot of value attached to it.
With its demand on the rise, the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research
Organization (KALRO) in collaboration with partners, has developed new finger
millet varieties to boost production and meet the rising demand for the cereal
in the country.
The varieties which have desirable
characteristics are set to scale up yields to address the gap in production
which had dropped from 126, 000 metric tons in 2014 to 72, 000 metric tons in
2018.
KALRO Director General Eliud Kireger said the
varieties are ideal for low to mid-altitude environments and medium to high
altitude environments adding that farmers stand to harvest on average 1033
kh/ha up from 278 kg/ha.
In recent times, millet production has been characterized by poor
crop management practices, lack of organized markets and low investment in the
crop by the government and development partner resulting in poor yields.
The World Bank (WB) funded Kenya Climate Smart Project (KCAP) and
KALRO have developed new technologies and a value chain to enable farmers reap
maximum benefits out of finger millet production. The new millet variety has
demonstrated high grain and forage yields with less inputs compared to other
cereals.
