After sim sim harvest, I smile all the way to bank

Hassan Mohamed at his sim sim farm in Aresa irrigation scheme, north of Mandera town. [Joe Ombuor, Standard]

 

The sun baked soils of Mandera and neighbouring counties in North Eastern Kenya where rainfall is a rarity support the growing of sim sim, a wonder oil seed crop hardly traceable in most parts of the country and thrives on little water. Sim Sim has been proved by experts a reliable vanguard for good health.

In Mandera County where most of the crop is grown, it is courtesy of irrigation from River Daua that originates in Ethiopia and flows six months in a year, joining the mighty River Juba in Somalia.

Thrives in arid areas

The tiny seeds that measure only three to four millimetres long and two millimetres wide are packed with natural oils, antioxidants, proteins, dietary fibres, vitamins and minerals such as calcium, potassium, zinc iron, phosphorus and magnesium according to experts.

Sim sim also known as sesame is therefore in high demand due to ingredients that play a useful role in curtailing cancer, diabetes, blood pressure and other lifestyle and genetic ailments. The spiraling demand has struck pastoralist communities in arid and semi-arid areas like a thunderbolt, its impact a smoldering realisation that the crop is a quintessential and reliable income earner.

Hassan Abdi Mohamed has been growing the crop by irrigation along the river for three years now with, in his words, “nothing to regret about”.

“I used to strain a lot taking care of my two wives and 15 children even with the few goats, camels and cattle in my possession. I tried maize farming but the yields were erratic and the market fickle. With sim sim, I often smile all the way to the bank,” he says.

Mohamed has dedicated some two and a half acres to the crop that he says gives him no less than eight 90 kilo bags every three months.

“It is an easy going crop that requires no farm inputs as it is not attacked by pests, resists fungal and other infections and is never stressed by shortage of water. Like the camel known to be pastoralists’ best friend, sim sim tolerates drought,” says Mohamed.

Nothing goes to waste

His youthful neighbour Hussein Maoo has two acres under young sim sim plants less than a month old. “I have stopped growing other crops since I discovered the convenience that comes with growing sim sim,” says Maoo, a father of three children.

The Agricultural Officer in charge of Aresa Irrigation Scheme, about 40 kilometers north of Mandera Town says over 20 farmers have taken to sim sim farming at the 206 acre scheme. He says the County Government takes the bulk of the harvest from farmers for its oil processing factory in Mandera town.

“The farmers are paid for the oil squeezed from their harvest at the rate of Sh400 per litre with a 50 kilogram bag yielding as much as 25 litres of cooking oil,” says Mr Elmi.

He explains that nothing goes to waste as the stems that are either uprooted or cut plus the husks are nutritious feeds for livestock. “The farmer is at liberty to retrieve the waste from processing or ‘cake’ to feed livestock,” says Elmi.

On planting methods, Elmi says the seeds can either be broadcast or sowed in rows, ideally 10 centimetres apart. Intercropping is not advisable because the crop is sensitive to competition for nutrients and needs ample sunlight to flourish.

He says the crop is ready for harvesting when the stem turns yellow and the leaves start falling off.

Mandera County Director of Agriculture Mr Bernard Ogutu says sim sim farming is picking up well. “Most of the oil squeezed from the seeds is sold in Nairobi and neighbouring Ethiopia,” says Mr Ogutu.


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Sim sim;Mandera County