I see Dengu People (Dead People), #Mulla

Last week on Friday, I embarked on the highly tideous and back-breaking affair of planting the dengu (Green Grams) that I got from USAID through their agricultural contractor Fintrac. Fintrac is in charge of the Kenya Horticultural Competitiveness project which aims to increase food production in Kenya. @USAIDKenya sort of wanted to tackle food shortage not by giving food aid but by ensuring that there is enough food being grown locally. It's kind of treating the root causes of famine rather than bandaging the symptoms every year.

I travelled to Machakos Town to the Dryland Seed Company which is one of the outlets that have KEPHIS approved seeds. I picked 15Kgs of the N26 variety which is drought tolerant. I have been planting it since then with the help of local mamas (women) here in Olturuto, Kitengela. Its from these ladies that I learnt that the art of planting was traditionally designated as a woman's job. Good thing gender roles are getting kinda blurred so I can plant in my own farm. There is something Spiritual about putting seeds in the soil, I feel it everyday as I plant. I guess its because as a farmer, you are trusting the soil and the rain to make something out of a tiny seed. Its that tiny seed that holds the blueprint to an entire foliage that will produce flowers and eventually seeds that will be the harvest. That's creation at it's most basic.

This dengu variety takes 65 days to mature, that's just 2 months and five days. Right now we're almost done planting two out of the three acres. I can only say that farming is turning out to be an awesome experience. Today on Twitter, I saw the hashtag #IAmKenyanBecause, started by @Uongozi254 and they wanted to know why we think we are Kenyan and my response was; " #IamKenyanBecause I'm doing what 80% of Kenyans do, #Farming, so that we don't do a #Kenyans4Kenya again."
 

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Kenya Power denies farmers power

The Kenya Power, Nairobi South zone, Kitengela Office has since May 2011 denied farmers electricity despite having paid for connection fees. Having applied for electricity under the Ref. No. E21432011040161, over 15 farmers are yet to be connected to the main grid up to date. This is in Olturuto shopping center which is 4Km off the main Kitengela-Namanga Road from the Kenchic Breeding Farm, and about 500 meters from Kuresoi M.P. Zakayo Cheruiyot’s farm. The way leave officer at the Kitengela office Mr. Osman uses the excuse that there is no way leave for the electricity poles to be erected but a new 3-phase line was identified from which to tap power. Before this excuse, the office had earlier claimed that we are over the minimum distance of 900 meters (OD) but that is also not true. This delay has angered residents so much that there are plans to do a public demonstration in Olturuto. The KBC T.V. Kitengela field journalist as well as NTV and Citizen T.V. Journalists have been informed of this protest against Kenya Power and will be coming to cover it. Some headway has been made though through the identification of an alternate route to use to bring power, being spearheaded by Eng. Joshua Mwangi but that is taking too long to be effected angering residents even more. Numerous complaints have already been lodged with Kenya Power by the residents including the most recent one under ref. no. 504936. We have already paid over KShs. 65,000 and we want electricity to pump water for irrigation, farm and build this nation. These connections will actually help Kenya Power achieve its annual target of 300,000 new connections. Its already been a year and a half, how much longer should we have to wait for electricity?

Prezzo rocking the One 'Swagger Farmers' Tees

Prezzo joined the One Campaign and designed T-shirts for the campaign which he is doing free of charge as part of his philanthropic drive to use his African stardom to bring attention to hunger, malnutrition and poverty. I am glad to also state my ambition to entice One Million young people like myself into farming. I am doing this using my skills as a journalist to write about my experiences as a young new famer through lifestyle articles that seek to romanticize the concept of farming. Farming is being taken up by youth as a wealth creation tool as well as for ensuring food security. To read more about Prezzo's Swagger Farmer campaign and Tees, go to the African Blog on http://one.org

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We are all winners

I've just passed by a group of sheep and I noticed that the offspring -five kids, were trying to conquer a small molehill. Each one wanted to be on top by trying to push the others off the molehill with its head.

We live in a world where winner takes all and this necessitates a cut-throat competitive culture that I consider unhealthy. Ever since primary school, I have not been a big fan of competition. I don't watch the English Premier league or follow the Kenyan League either, I don't see the sense really. I never did participate in sports much in high school either. I believe that we can all win.

Now I know that sounds lofty and some might even say wussy, but unlike in war, I believe that in life there can be win-win scenarios. All it takes is bigger men and women coming together and realizing that there is more than enough. There are more than enough resources for us all. Rich people dont have to hoard everything, live and let live. Now I'm not advocating for the rich to give away their money, although that would be good, neither am I preaching communism. I just think that the world needs a little bit more spiritualism.

Now, this is different from religionism in that spiritualism says that we are all connected, all small pieces of one big jigsaw puzzle, and that my part is connected to other people's parts, and their parts connected to mine. And so their fate is my fate and my fate is their fate. None of us can do this alone. Some will be buyers and others sellers, some will be employers and others employees, we all need each other and hence each person is valuable in that way. So let's recognize this truth that we are one and there really is no need to put others down for you to win, for we can all win. The podium is big enough for us all. Heck it's so big that even our latest scientific telescopes cannot see the end of it. Thats our podium, the entire universe.         

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A Million New Young Farmers

I will start this post with Busta Rhymes and T-pain on their Hustlers' Anthem track where T-pain sings the hook like "I keep hustling dough, yea, yea, yea". This is what I have set out to do. And its not just about hustling dough, but I also want to start a campaign to get a million new young people interested in and involved in farming as their main-stay or side-hustle.

Farming has mostly been viewed as a retirees' pass time activity or a rich ranchers' sport. My plan is to make it an initiative for young people just like me. I want to get young people excited about the prospect of farming, because it is. I am writing about my awesome and sometimes not so awesome experiences as a young new farmer in Kitengela and I am pushing to have these lifestyle feature articles published in weekend editions of newspapers or magazines and in my blog, FB and Twitter pages. I am also talking to companies involved in agribusiness to bankroll a guerilla persuasion campaign that will get the youth into farming. I am even willing to sacrifice my image and privacy to this campaign (hehe). I have done some mock-up ads of how the campaign visuals will look like. I also want to promote the concept of Agritourism through farm-stays. I have an image of a two bedroom house on one corner of the farm, a seperate kitchen, washrooms with the flushing feature, two or four round huts for guests with two beds each. The huts will be used to house farming enthusiasts and people interested in farming. I can just see the homestead from where I am seated on an old beehive at the corner of the farm.

The other attractions will be the four zebras and two gazelles with their young ones that roam near the farm. I always see young boys chasing those gazelles but can never get close to them. The mzee caretaker at the farm also tells me that within a half day's walk south of here, there are wildbeasts and ostriches. I didn't know that!

Our grandparents used to farm, now its our time to farm - its a case of 'same hustle, different age'. I'm looking at the west side of the farm and noticing the acacia trees near the seasonal river 500 meters from the edge of the farm, I realize that we can have camping gear set up under those trees. The fifty acres that belong to the mzee who sold us the three acres can also be used for paintball games. All in all, the list of what can be done here is endless. By the way, today is the start of the ASK Nairobi trade fair- the Holy Grail of farming, I hope to attend before the last day on Sunday, see you there. I am now focussed on farming as my main-hustle and I want to entice you to be a part-time/ full-time farmer or as Friends of Farmers, will you join me as a brand ambassador, follow this blog through the button on the right and share this page as a Friend of Farmers.

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