Top 20 Suitable Crops You Can Plant In Loima, Turkana County

The Soko Directory team pitched camp in Loima, Turkana County. Turkana County is an arid and semi-arid county in the northwestern part of Kenya, characterized by dry and hot climate conditions most of the time.

The nighttime minimum temperature ranges between 24.2 and 26.0°C and the daytime maximum temperature oscillates between 35 and 36.0°C.

The rainfall pattern and distribution are erratic and unreliable both temporal and spatial. Turkana county has three main rainfall seasons (long rains occur on March-April-May, June-July-August which occurs in Turkana West, Turkana South, Loima, and some parts of Turkana East sub-counties.

This is influenced by inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ) rainfall-bearing systems as well as Cong Airmass (CAM). The short rains occur in October-November-December. The soils in Turkana County are mainly sand with alluvial deposits in areas close to the rivers.

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Given the above conditions, it is challenging to plant any crop in the region. This is why 90 percent of the residents in this place prefer keeping livestock, most of which are emaciated due to a lack of pasture and water. Most are also pastoralists.

Despite the massive climatic challenges, some residents are engaging in subsistence farming. Farming here is strictly done for food among families. We found out that the following crops are suitable for this place:

1. Sorghum
2. Millet
3. Pigeonpea
4. Cowpea
5. Green gram
6. Cassava
7. Wheat

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The above crops are drought-resistant. Which means they require the least minimum amount of water to survive. Given that the place rarely receives rain, they are the most suitable crops that those in the place can plant or those moving into the place.

The most common indigenous vegetable that does well in this place is the Spider Plant, a variety known as Akeyo. For legumes, we have Chickpea and Climbing Beans. Common beans were doing well in some places where farmers have access to some source of water.

Vegetables such as Kale and Spinach that take short time to mature and do not take too much water are also suitable for this place, as well as oil crops such as Jatropha. At the same time, three types of flowers are suitable for this place:

1. Carthamus
2. Heliconia
3. Lavender

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