The drought-tolerant and cheap-to-grow triticale grain can be Kenya’s answer to slashing its Sh74.5 billion wheat import bill and 33 million metric tonne animal feed deficit.
Despite having almost no farmers currently growing it in Kenya, the ‘miracle grain’ was first bred in Kenya all the way back in 1978. The dual-purpose forage and grain crop is the first man-made cereal created by crossing wheat and rye. It combines wheat’s high yield and grain quality with rye’s drought tolerance, ability to grow in poor soils, disease resistance, and low input requirement. In Kenya’s wheat-growing heartland of Njoro at the Njoro National Plant Breeding Station, triticale produced 20-40 per cent more than wheat and up to 60 per cent more during drought.
Farmers who switch from growing wheat and barley to triticale increased their net earnings because their yield increase and their cost of pesticides reduce because it is resistant to leaf rust, leaf spot, and stem rust.
New varieties of triticale which can be milled whole or blended with wheat into flour to make bread and noodles with basic wheat flour-making machines are even more drought-resistant. They grow with just 350–600 mm of well-distributed rainfall. It can be planted in areas of up to 3,000 metres above sea level. Triticale can also be used in making beer, and snacks.
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This is important because 70 per cent of Kenya’s 57 million hectares is semi-arid and receives 550–850 mm of rainfall annually. Wheat requires moderate to high rainfall of between 500–1,300 mm. Climate change which is driving drought is expected to reduce African wheat yields by 15 per cent in the next 25 years. Kenya produced 309,492 metric tons of wheat in 2023 against a demand of 900,000 tons. According to USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, wheat imports in 2025 will increase to 2.15 million MT as demand and disposable incomes grow.
Because of its deep vigorous roots, triticale can take more nutrients from the soil than other cereals. Triticale performs well in low-fertility sandy soil, shallow soils that can be easily eroded, acidic, salty, and high and low Ph soils.
Triticale’s leaves and stems are used to make cattle, sheep, goat, deer, and camel high-quality silage, hay and grazing feed crop while it grains are added to pig, poultry concentrate feed. The energy content of triticale for feeding broilers and layers is
similar to that of wheat, barley and grain sorghum.
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Depending on when fodder triticale is harvested, it contains up to 15 per cent protein.
Foddatriticale which is a triticale variety grown for fodder sold by East African Seed, yields 10-12 tons per hectare for every cutting in just 160-180 days. It is highly digestible and can be quickly turned into energy.