Canola: Grow it to Believe it

It is a bright day in the larger, Mau escarpments stretching from Narok through to Kuresoi. Farmers Daniel Kilesi and John Paul Munene survey the Canola plants on their farm, the sea of yellow blossoms, what they see brings smiles to their faces. “Canola flowers just put you in a good mood,” says Daniel Kilesi. The farmers will have to wait a few more months to get really excited. By the next few months the flowers will turn into pods, and the flowers’ black seeds, which contain precious oil, will be ready for harvesting. Mr. Kilesi and Mr Munene are part of a larger group supported by the Center of Excellence for Crop Rotation, a project by Agventure Ltd to enable farmers to grow rotation crops including canola.

Explaining to Kenyans why Canola, a crop of Canadian origin is an ideal break crop for growing their profitability is perhaps the biggest challenge we faced. But the calls of duty could not allow any lapse. So our own Mr. Masila Kanyingi spent a week with the Center of Excellence for Crop Rotation agronomists, Jason, Jackson and Victoria going round some of the growing areas. The Center of Excellence is a project established by Agventure Ltd. The journey that started from Olchoro location in Narok County through to Mau Narok, Nakuru, Molo and ended at Mkulima location in Kuresoi was an eye opener. We visited the Agventure Ltd processing plant, large scale growers, middle scale growers, small scale growers and groups which were eager to learn how to grow canola. The word ‘canola’ is a contraction that stands for Canadian oil, low acid. The name comes from Canada, the world’s largest producer of Canola. We link growers and consumers. That does not change even if the crop does, excerpt;

“The step-by-step transition to an economy free of carbon dioxide will not be possible without vegetable oils”, says Mr. Jackson ole Yenko an agronomist with the Center of Excellence. Adding, “the total land area used for growing Canola in Kenya has more than quadrupled and Canola oil production has increased but it is not enough”.

Why Canola
Oil Speaking to the Cereals Magazine, Mr. Jason Kamunya, the project team leader with Center of Excellence said canola is the best rotational plant currently for cereal growers. To break the monoculture practice with most wheat and barley farmers, the Center of Excellence has slowly introduced canola to most medium scale growers in Narok, Nakuru, Laikipia, Meru, Nyandarua and Uasin Gishu counties.

The project, which started last year in partnership with SNV and Unilever, has targeted growers who need to break from one main crop and therefore canola is been placed as a rotational crop. “We train growers on good agronomy practices and the right seed varieties for the best harvest”, said Mr. Kamunya. Canola is a profitable cropping option for many cropping regions in Kenya and it also brings diversity in terms of cropping rotations.

Introduction
Speaking to a group of farmers in Kuresoi, Ms. Victoria Misenda also an agronomist with the Center of Excellence said, “walking close to a canola crop in flower the strong cabbage smell will explain its origin as a member of the Brassica family which includes broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, mustard, radish and turnip. Canola is a variant of the ancient crop rapeseed, a word derived from the Latin rapum meaning turnip”.

The physical description of the plant can be enumerated as:

Roots – Canola has a taproot system. Growth is rapid after establishment, with 85% of the tap root in the top 25cm of soil.
Stems – Stem height varies between 75cm and 175cm. The more widely spaced the plants, the more extensive the branches, which compensates for yield losses due to there being fewer plants.
Leaves – Plants produce up to six large, waxy, blue-green leaves per stem. After emergence, canola develops a thick rosette of leaves close to the ground before the flowering stem appears.
Flowers – Canola has small, yellow flowers and flowering starts on the main stem.
Seeds/pods – The round black, brown or yellow seeds are relatively small. Mature pods contain about 23 seeds. Pods on the lower parts of plants are about 30cm from the soil surface. Pods are prone to shattering if the harvest is delayed.

Cropping requirements

She told the farmers from Murinduko area of Kuresoi that canola fits well as a break crop in Cereal farms within 350 mm-700 mm rainfall range. It does well in medium to high altitude with average temperatures of 20 to 26 degrees centigrade. Soils should be relatively fertile well-drained medium loams to heavy clay. The ideal soil pH is between 5.5 and 7. For a cereal farmer, the essentials of growing wheat or canola are the same.

Land Preparation
Mr. Kamunya encouraged farmers to start preparing the land before planting. The soils must be loosened up by ploughing the land with the use of the cultivator attached to a tractor. Compaction must be dealt with within primary cultivations if it is an issue. After ploughing the land it is advisable to allow weeds to germinate then do a preplanting herbicide. This will lower the weeds pressure after planting. The land is then harrowed to make the soils fine in readiness for planting. “The seed is tiny, you need to make the soils as fine as possible to avoid germination challenges”, says Kamunya.

Given that the seeds are tiny; the rule of the thumb is the crop should not be planted deeper than the thumbnail size to ensure germination. “You need to mix the seeds with the recommended fertilizer depending on the soil analysis results done by Crop Nutrition Ltd through the Center of Excellence.” says Mr. Yenko. Adding, “mix them thoroughly then putting them on the planter hopper. Set the planter to plant a depth of 1.5cm to 2cm and reduce the tractor speed to 5km/h. Have someone in the hopper who will continue mixing thoroughly to avoid sedimentation”. He discouraged them from scattering the seeds for even distribution of plants.

Nutrition
Canola needs nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer. Other nutrients such as sulphur are also important. Often large amounts of nitrogen are required depending on whether it is a first crop after grain crops (usually more nitrogen needed). Nitrogen can be applied before sowing, drilled with the seed or top-dressed. The rate applied depends on the soil analysis results, yield the farmer is targeting, and this depends mostly on the amount of rainfall the crop is likely to receive during the growing season and the date which it is sown. The rule of thumb is that canola needs about 80 kg/ha of nitrogen for every tonne of grain expected to be produced.

Weeding
Early weed control must be effective. Once established, canola is effective at crowding out weeds. Canola has tolerance to herbicides that will kill brome grass and other grass weeds, and can survive being sprayed with that herbicide while these weeds species are controlled or suppressed. To the farmers’ advantage, canola forms a canopy, which helps in weed control.

Pests and Diseases
Canola can be affected by a number of insect pests, which may require chemical control if they start to cause significant crop damage. Adoption of an Integrated Pest Management or IPM system reduces, but does not eliminate, the use of insecticides by allowing the build up of beneficial insects, which may keep populations of pest insects in check. Canola crops are vulnerable Diamond Black Moth. Chemical control is often necessary and one option is to apply an insecticide in seed dressing. Other possible pests during the growing period include aphids and Cutworms. It is very important to use insect control methods, which have minimal impact on essential pollinators, particularly bees.

Diseases are not very common currently with canola being a new crop. However, farmers should be alert and in most cases can apply a broad-spectrum preventive fungicide when the crop is about one and half months old.

Management
Farmers should keep scouting the fields for any insects and diseases. In case of any serious threat, farmers are encouraged to use the recommended insecticides and fungicides. At flowering, farmers should avoid spraying to avoid killing beneficials especially bees which are critical for pollination. Timing and methods of spraying can have a big impact on beneficials.

Harvesting
One thing to always remember when harvesting is to check if the crop is ready for harvest. To determine that, pick some seeds from top, middle and bottom. Mix them and crush them, mature seeds are 95% deep black in colour and when crushed they are yellow. Keep checking regularly. You can also use a moisture meter and ensure the moisture content is between 13 to 15.

Crops that are ready for harvest may spoil right away so be sure to harvest them once they are ready as not to waste money and resources. The speed of the combine harvester should be 3km/h to 5km/h with a raised reel to avoid shattering.

Marketing
The marketing of canola is well organised. All the farmers visited are with The Center of Excellence, which in association with Agventure Ltd offers a contract at a fixed price of Kshs. 40 per Kg The farmer is paid within a week of delivery. The seeds are then crushed and the oil sold to Unilever to use in new Blue Band. Agventure also introduced the Pure Mountain Farm Oil brand to the market in 2010. This is a cold-pressed Canola product, suitable for all types of cooking.

Uses of Canola
Canola has many uses, both edible and inedible. It can be utilised for human consumption as canola oil, or blended with other vegetable oils for the production of various solid and liquid cooking oils and salad dressing. Canola meal, which is a good source of protein, can be used in animal feed and is recommended for up to 20% of the ration for dairy animals. The meal is also a high-quality organic fertiliser that can be used by commercial organic farmers. In addition, canola is grown as a biofuel.

Canola in crop rotation
Canola is an excellent choice to enhance or extend a crop rotation. It produces a high yield and can be a profitable crop in its own right as well as an excellent fit with cereals or pulses. The average yield of canola is 2 t/ha, which includes three drought years. Some farmers achieve yields of more than 4 t/ha in better years, especially in higher rainfall. Cereal yields after canola are often enhanced because of the disease cleaning that occurs when an unrelated crop type such as canola is alternated with cereals and kept free of grassy weeds. This can improve the rooting structure, making cereals more resilient to dry periods.

Canola’s introduction gave farmers another crop to grow on their land, which has helped farmers to grow their crops more sustainably by reducing soil erosion and improving soil moisture. Previously, farmers managed their farms by growing wheat and then letting the land go fallow (which means no crops are growing). With the introduction of canola, farmers can grow wheat-canola barley rotation. By having something growing on the land instead of nothing, farmers are helping to manage soil erosion better. Canola in the rotation allows farmers to better manage their weeds. As Canola is a broadleaf crop, and there are different herbicide tolerant varieties of canola, farmers have more options for weed control than in cereal crops such as wheat and barley.

Financial aspects
Mr. Kamunya agreed with one farmer that canola might not be profitable on the short-term face value. “A realistic target yield can be determined by calculating the amount of money earned by growing canola (in most cases lower than barley and wheat) the potential yields of subsequent crops to be grown and amount of savings from inputs after a canola cycle”, he advised. The long-term benefits for the whole cropping cycle are well established; as farmers who have grown the crop will attest to.