Tolerant wheat varieties key to increased production

Wobibi shows the fields where candidate varieties are being tested at Bulengeni. Below, a close-up of the wheat ears growing at the demonstration farms. Photo by GEORGE KATONGOLE.

Barely a day passes without most Ugandans, especially in the urban areas, consuming wheat products.

Wheat is a high-elevation crop, with barley, arabica coffee and potatoes. Neither is a native crop to Uganda. According to researchers, wheat was introduced to Uganda at the beginning of the 20th century. The domestic consumption of wheat products has been on a steady rise. In 2010, 131,000 metric tonnes of wheat were consumed in Uganda yet today the consumption stands at 480,000 metric tonnes.
Wheat has become increasingly important not only at the domestic level but also in the industrial sector. Yet the country remains a net importer of wheat in order to meet its domestic demand. Wheat production in Uganda was at 20,000 tonnes in 2018, down from 24,000 tonnes previous year.

According to Stephen Wobibi, a senior technician of crop husbandry at Buginyanya Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (BugiZARDI) in Bulengeni, eastern Uganda, there is potential for a large increase in production in the highlands as well as expanding the production area in the mid-altitude areas.

Currently, wheat is only limited to altitudes above 1500m above sea level, especially on the slopes of Mt Elgon and Mt Rwenzori and parts of Kabale, Kapchorwa, Kabale, Rubanda, Kisoro, Bushenyi, Fort Portal, Mbarara and Bundibugyo by small scale farmers. Some mechanisation is present in Sebei region where farmers use combined harvesters.

Wobibi, who is among the researchers at BugiZARDI, says they are in advanced stages of releasing mid-altitude varieties to go beyond the traditional highland growing areas. The targeted zones are those ranging between 1,000 and 1,500m above sea level. “We eat more than what we produce. We look toward sustainability by growing more and reducing the demand of importing,” Wobibi said during the 18th Seeds of Gold Farm Clinic at Bulengeni.

Progress

Wheat was first grown in Uganda by the White settlers who brought it for their confectionary needs. Soon the locals picked interest because it was a major source of food in their cold environments. “More land is available in lowlands and that forms the basis of our research yet mechanisation is also difficult in highland areas,” Wobibi says. Buginyanya is the only institute in Uganda that breeds wheat and barley. They first released the improved varieties in 2015 and have three varieties available to farmers: Naro I, II and III.
Candidate varieties are also being tested to determine their suitability in semi-arid conditions and heat tolerance.

Ploughing

Old practices still persist among wheat growers but Wobibi says that the most important thing is to clear the bush and prepare the land. To Wobibi, a fine seedbed is crucial and planting must take place before the onset of the rains to allow the weed trash to dry.

Sowing

There are several ways of sowing with the most common being by broadcasting among smallholder farmers. Wobibi suggests that broadcasting requires a high seed rate and must not be used by a farmer with a commercial sense. He said: “We don’t recommend broadcasting because it is hard to weed and can take up to 60kgs to plant an acre.” Normally, 40kg of seed is needed for one acre and 100kg per hectare.

Wobibi says that the best agronomic practices involve row seeding with a spacing of 30cm between rows and 5cm space by using a drill. The hole should be 3cm deep since these are small grains. Seeds should be covered thinly to allow proper germination. Wobibi recommends obtaining certified seeds from partners of Naro, saying that most farmers buy seeds from traders who give little attention to scientific recommendations.

The seed business is not streamlined because there is no seed company in Uganda that supplies farmers apart from East Africa Seed Company. For instance, most farmers in eastern Uganda buy seeds from Kenya.

“Some of the seed is not necessarily resistant to diseases in Uganda and as a result they are vulnerable to stripe, stem, leaf rusts and leaf spot diseases,” Wobibi says.

During planting, he suggests the use of fertilisers, especially Diammonium phosphate (Dap) which is rich in phosphorous, making it useful in root initiation. The best planting time is just before the onset of the rains, according to Wobibi. “Dry planting is highly recommended and a farmer should time when the rains are about to start.” It normally takes about four days for seeds to germinate.

Weed management

Weeding can be done using hand or hoes as well as weeders. But Wobibi says that selective herbicides can be applied. Two types are important, according to him. Pre-emergency herbicides which should be applied before the seeds germinate and then wait until after a month to apply post-emergency herbicides. Fertilisation is key to increasing yield using phosphorous and nitrogen rich fertilisers.

Harvesting

Different varieties have different maturity periods. The quick maturing varieties take up to 90 days while others take 100 days. The slow maturity crops take up to 120 days. “A variety that goes beyond 120 days is long maturity and we don’t recommend it,” says Wobibi.

Seed heads start to bow on the stem which is a sign that they are ready to harvest. Ready seeds also have no traces of green. To check whether the seed is ready, a farmer can bite and when seeds are ready they should not be soft or chewy. Farmers can use knives and sickles, in mechanised areas, combined harvesters are utilised. Stalks are cut down near soil level. Next is time to thresh and clean the grains. Harvested corn is then threshed using sticks and hand winnowed.

Finally, a farmer should also take the proper steps to ensure a bug-free environment for storage. A farmer can expect about three tonnes in an acre which yields. This makes business sense as an acre can give a farmer Shs3m yet there are three planting seasons in a year.

Disease and pest management

Wheat is mainly affected by stem rust, yellow rust as well as foliar diseases caused by septoria that causes numerous leaf spot diseases and Helminthosporium that causes leaf blight. Uganda also has a specific disease, Ug99, which manifests by destroying chlorophyll thus starving the plant. Ug99, can turn a healthy looking crop, only weeks away from harvest, into nothing more than shriveled grains at harvest.

Aphids are another challenge. Wobibi says that these diseases are being controlled via breeding disease resistant varieties.

The major pests are birds and termites. Termites normally attack when plants have developed sugar while birds come at the milk stage. Wobibi says birds have the potential to reduce up to 80 per cent of the farm output. One of the techniques is by bird scaring while termites are managed by using kerosene in their mounds.

Market

The market for wheat is large though its decentralised nature poses greater threats to production. The farm gate price is at Shs1,000/kg and Wobibi says it is stable because of the huge demand. “But what we actually produce is like a drop in the ocean with imports contributing about 95 per cent of what is available on the market,” he says.

What worries researchers like Wobibi is the fact that most of the wheat grown in Uganda ends up cross the border. Most farmers on the Elgon slopes prefer to sell to Kenya while those on the western border end up selling to Rwanda. This leaves Uganda with a burden of importing grains from Tanzania and Kenya. Up to 460 metric tonnes are imported.

Wobibi suggests that farmer incentives must be improved as is the case with barley where breweries contract farmers by also providing inputs and market.