Land Rover Farming

I am currently waiting to purchase a 1968 series 3 Land Rover for my farming activities and I'm really excited about the prospect of that. First of all, its the original hardmetal body that Land Rovers are famous for, secondly its a petrol engine and unlike diesel engines, these vehicles don't have a tendency to develop severe engine troubles as they age. Thirdly, it can't get stuck in mud anywhere, its a real offroad vehicle unlike these soft SUVs and pickups we have on the road these days. The real work that I want to do with it is transport Managu (African Nightshade) to Kitengela market which is about 15Km from our farm in Olturoto near Isinya on the Kitengela-Namanga highway. We are just about getting a tractor to come and plough the 3 acre farm.

The beautiful thing about Managu as an indigenous vegetable is that it takes a month to mature. It needs irrigating and since there is a borehole in the farm next door, we are laying down pipes to connect our farm to the water grid. The last crop I had -which was technically my first crop- was Dengu (Green Grams) but these were stunted during the growth stage due to a shortage of rain in November-December last year. They had been advertised as drought tolerant but that turned out not to be so.

Being a new young farmer, I know I still have a lot to learn about farming so I take this dissapointment as a lesson. Despite the loss, I am re-investing myself again into the farming big time. I'm going in hard just like the 1968 Land Rover which is still on the road 45 years later. Even when things don't work out the first time, never give up, always keep going!

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My Article in HortFresh Journal

I had earlier posted photos of my article titled "Youthful Ambition" but here is the link to the article in full. http://hortfreshjournal.com/editorial_opinion/opinion9.htm Enjoy it and share it with a friends or frenemies :)

Disappointment

Disapppointment is a pretty powerful emotion that can even render you immobile and make you quit. Disappointment comes when we don't get the results that we expected and thus frustration rides in as if on cue. Its been a dry season and the short rains didn't come as I had expected. This in turn has denied my crop of Green Grams (Dengu) the much needed water at this half-way point in their growth. The crop has thus been stunted and unless it rains well in Kitengela soon, I am afraid I won't have enough harvest to cover my costs. The Green Grams had been advertised as drought tolerant but it seems that this drought has outrun them.

This however being only my first crop, I can't afford to be discouraged. I have known from the start that I could get burnt and the best thing to do from here is to learn from this occurrence. The major lesson here is that rain-fed agriculture is the reason we are perenially hungry and for any serious farmer, irrigation has to be the ultimate option. I will thus have to set up a proper irrigation system before the next crop. The good thing about our farm is that there is a borehole on the farm adjacent and the owner is a family friend and has given us the go ahead to tap water from his borehole. I was thinking of planting water melons for the next season but I was advised that if the melons -which mature in three months- are harvested during the april long rains, they will run the risk of getting damaged by the wet weather. I am weighing my options and one of them is Dania (not sure of their English name but they are used as food seasoning along with onions).

Like I was saying earlier, this disappointment is a mere speed bump on the road that doesn't give me the luxury to sit around and mope. From here on, I'm rolling up my sleeves again and its the pedal to the metal. Im going hard!  And on that rejuvenated note, I send you seasons greetings, Happy Holidays.

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Youthful Ambition

I have decided to title this blog post after my article in the November issue of Hortfresh Journal, a horticultural Magazine (pictured).

I am really excited about this accomplishment because I was invited to write the Editorial opinion on page 1 of the magazine. This is such an honour because other than exercising my journalism muscle, I am also flexing my farming muscles. Farming is a very new venture for me and I have made it my personal mission to attract a million young people into farming. Through a platform like Hortfresh Journal, I see my goal beginning to become visible in the distance. A big thank you to the editorial team led by Joseph Karanja. To get yourself a copy of Hortfresh Journal for 250bob, talk to Carol on 0752-007253 or 0723-308725 or go to www.hortfreshjournal.com for leads in Horticulture. 

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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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