By Peter Maina Mwaniki.
Mwaniki is a small-scale farmer living in the outskirts of Sipili trading centre, Sipili division, Laikipia County. Have been growing Grain Amaranth in small quantities, but he now advises that it is a crop worth growing for its nutritional value.
Grain Amaranth is regarded with great importance in many parts of the world. In U.S.A it is referred to as super grain or wonder grain, the Greeks refer to as immortal or living forever. They also say that the crop does not wither, Indians call it Ramadara meaning seed from God or Rajigia meaning kings seed.
Different tribes in Kenya give grain amaranth different names e.g. Kikuyu people call it Terere and in Kiswahili it is called Mchicha.
Grain Amaranth takes about 45-75 days to mature. It is a pests and disease free, can yield between 10-15 bags of 100kgs per acre and grows well in both low and high potential areas. It can be grown as a food crop; cash crop as well as medicinal. The two common varieties are the tall and short variety.
The tall variety is grown by digging ditches, 2 feet apart and 6-8 inches from one plant to the other. The short variety is grown by digging ditches, one and a half feet apart and 4-6 inches from one plant to the other. D.A.P fertilizer and manure can be used to boost the growth of grain amaranth. 50kg-100kg D.A.P fertilizers are used in one acre. When using manure you need to dig ditches of three inches deep and apply the manure before dropping seeds using your thumb and pointing finger, seeds are then covered with a light layer of soil.
When using the fertilizer ditches are dug and then fertilizer is put in intervals according to the variety to be used i.e. 6-8 inches for tall and 4-6 to shot variety. If the rain has fallen and the ground is humid you put the seeds and then cover it. But if the soil is dry it is advisable that after putting the fertilizer cover it with a small layer of soil so that it does not have direct contact with the seeds, because it can burn them before the rains falls.
When the situation is favorable as when there are adequate soil moisture the seeds will germinate between 2-6 days. After germination you have to wait for two weeks when the first thinning is done leaving only three plants per space and to an emergency weeding. After 3 weeks the second thinning is done when only one plant is left making sure it is the healthiest one from the rest.
Hilling is done to Amaranth as it is done to potatoes. The crops are let to grow until the heads turn golden meaning that they are ready for harvest. Harvesting is done using sharp knife to cut the heads up to where the grains starts and then put into a buckets or bag without holes since it is had to collect the seeds once they are mixed with the soil or sand. The heads are then poured on tents and then spread. Should be free from soil and sand. Then people use sticks to beat the grain amaranth heads and make sure that no seeds remain in the husks. After this different sieves are used to separate grains from the leaves.
These sieves the one used to separate maize and cobs and the one used to separate wheat from husks. Then the grains and plant dust are separated using a strong wind.
The gains are then dried in the sun until it would be hard to break it when placed between the teeth.
When dried completely the grains are made into (1) flour (2) pops or puffed cereals (3) Amaranth oil. The flour can be used to make chapattis, cakes, madazis, porridge and Ugali. The pops can be mixed with milk for breakfast, mashed with bananas or beans. They can also be put in when it is almost ready when being cooked.
As I had said above grain amaranth is medicinal, it is for
(i) Treat/control
(ii) Prevent
(iii) Combating and
(iv) Management of some diseases as you can see in the table below:
| PREVENTION | MANAGEMENT/IN TREATING | CONTROL/COMBATING |
| Cancer of colon | Gout | Marasmus |
| Cancer of breast | Reduction of T.B | Kwashiorkor |
| Cancer of lungs | Reduction of diabetes | Nausea |
| Cancer of gullet | Rheumatism | Migraine |
| Diabetes | Bronchitis | Scurvy |
| Heart disease | H.I.V. | Dizziness |
| Hypertension | | |
| Blood pressure | | |
| Bile accumulation | | |
| Weak muscles | | |
| Aging | | |
| Constipation | | |
| | | |
As a food crop grain, Amaranth has very high nutritional value that includes (1) protein (2) carbohydrates (3) vitamins and (4) minerals. This means it is complete by itself.
Grain Amaranth oil has Vitamin E, Omega 3 and Omega 6 which are found in fish only.
My advice too the reader is that you should see that at least you use the grain Amaranth products in your meals to gain all what you read above.
The grain Amaranth is now being grown in Laikipia West district in the areas of Nga’rua, Sipili and Ol-moran. Farmers should start growing grain Amaranth in their farms to gain food, money, healthy bodies for many of the diseases will be managed as stated in the table above.
For more information contact.
Peter Maina Mwaniki,
Ng’arua Focal Group Sipili
Box 31 Kinamba
Mobile 0725 152 750
No comments:
Post a Comment