In Luhwa village, a few meters from the border of Busia and Siaya Counties, it is time to harvest rice. In the past, tools like sickles would be in use here. Today things are different.
With the onset of a combine harvester, farmers here are enjoying working on their farms. One such farmer is Martine Juma. For years he has cultivated rice and has experience both in ancient ways of harvesting and mechanized methods.
Juma says, since the arrival of the combined harvester, rice harvesting time has reduced one to two weeks per acre to barely 40-45 minutes. “Cutting only would take four days to one week per acre, then four more days by people winnowing the grains. One had to spend the nights in the fields to make sure that the harvest was safe. Today it only takes 45 minutes and harvesting is done with,” said Juma.
Not only has the combined harvester reduced the harvest time, but grains dropping in the field during the exercise have reduced too. Juma says that previously a farmer would lose between 15 and 20 percent of the crop remaining in the field.
Far from benefiting the farmers, dozens of people here have found a source of income. One of them is Gabriel Poel, a young energetic man who offers loading services in the fields. He says because of the reduced harvesting time, a number of rice farms are harvested in a day, giving they are always busy providing their services.
“We usually charge depending on the distance, it could be 50 or a hundred shillings per sack. Rice harvesting here is continuous so we keep on shifting daily.”
However, untimely water scheduling sometimes has affected rice production in Bunyala Irrigation Scheme. Currently, the scheme’s water is controlled by an electricity-powered pump which may not work when there is a power shortage in the region, (which is a common phenomenon).
According to Mr. Edwin Manyonge, Bunyala irrigation scheme manager, completion of the lower Nzoia Irrigation Project will help reduce the water challenges here and also reduce high electricity costs (Ksh. 600,000 monthly) for pumping the water, since water will be flowing by gravity and not depending on the pump.
The Bunyala Irrigation scheme currently irrigates up to 3500 acres and it is expected that the Lower Nzoia project will increase the acreage to 22,000 acres of farming.
“We already have the intake and the head works canals and all the structures around that canal to hold the capacity of water enough for 22,000 acres.”
On several occasions, Busia County governor Dr. Paul Otuoma has insisted on making the Bunyala irrigation scheme the biggest rice producer in the country. Dr. Otuoma says the expansion of the scheme to 22,000 acres will add close to twenty billion Kenya shillings to the economy of Budalangi, up from the current eight hundred million shillings annually.
Averagely, a farmer harvests between 35 and 50 sacks of rice per acre, each sack being 80 kilos, with the market price averaging between 50 and 60 shillings per kilo.
