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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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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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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Networking

Today was a day spent at St. Peter's Cleaver Primary school in downtown Nairobi for the purpose of networking with other farmers. The meeting had been called by a company by the name Rabbit and Rabbit products. The aim of the gathering was to establish a governing council for the Nairobi area comprising of seven representatives who were to be chosen by the farmers.

This gave way to a one hour voting process and the seven were chosen. It is the task of the seven to register a council/cooperative through which the farmers and the company Rabbits and rabbits products will interact. The proposed name of the council is Kenya Commercial Rabbit Council. KCRC will then sign an MOU with Rabbits and Rabbits Products (R&RP) to find a market together for our rabbits as well as distribute their products to farmers. It is poised to be a win-win for both parties as one gets a market for their feeds as the other gets a market for their rabbits.

All in all, it was a very productive venture and as a smaller group within the larger Nairobi group, the Kitengela group is to meet on 3rd December 2011 at our group leader's farm in Mavoko. I am currently making plans to move into the farm in Kitengela permanently from next week because that is when the tractor will till the land in preparation for planting. That's about the time I will also purchase rabbits and take them to the farm with me. I look forward to a quiet farming lifestyle in the plains of Kitengela and moreso to a handsome harvest and plenty of cash :)

Slaughtering a rabbit

Here is the video of the slaughter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2sAlGYAnuw viewer discretion is advised for the faint hearted.


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Training

Today, November the 2nd was the first day of training on rabbit keeping at the National Agricultural Training Center here in Ngong. The capacity building is part of a 3-day course which ends on Friday and by which time I will have gotten enough knowledge to be able to keep rabbits comfortably and cost-efficiently. Our trainer today, Mrs Komen, informed us that there has been a request from China for 200 Kgs of rabbit meat every month but the available farmers in the country aren't able to meet the demand. This is partly due to the fact that most rabbit farmers go it alone and thereby miss out on opportunities like this. Others just do it as a hobby and keep only two or three rabbits.

The training today covered the various types of breeds there are including the California, New Zealand, Flemish giant, Angora, Chinchila and many more. Oh by the way, did you know that a baby rabbit is called a kitten, and when in a group they are called a litter. Any way, enough with the terminology. The training went on well and I'm hoping to create a network of rabbit farmers with whom I can work along with and share experiences as well as meet orders together.

Bottom line is that I am getting ready for this venture the right way and I feel positive about all this. As for the crop husbandry, I will employ the services of my agricultural consultant Mr. Wainaina because I am yet to get any training on that. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's training day. Till then.

Facebook Farmers

Its 2 O'clock in the morning and for farmers, this is no time to be awake, but for writers and poets, this is a time when the mind is most fertile and pregnant with ideas just ready for exposure to the whole world. At two in the morning, the creative kind will just wake up from a deep slumber and have a hovering need to put their thoughts on to paper (or keyboard) and this is exactly what I'm doing right now at exactly six minutes past 2am.

The title of this post is Facebook Farmers which is borrowed from Amiran Kenya and the idea of it is creating a new crop of young farmers from the Facebook generation and I guess it has worked with me although I haven't yet had any contact with Amiran directly but I have come across their banner along Ngong Road at Racecourse which says 'Farming is cool'. I am gearing to use this blog as my 'Facebook tool' or social media outlet to bring together my farming activities and create a repository of not only a chronological account of my progress but also attract other young people into the farming business. Note how I have used the words farming and business together and right after each other.

As far as the farm goes, we finally did a preliminary assessment with my agricultural consultant Mr Wainaina yesterday when we took him and his colleague to the farm in Kitengela. His initial reaction was to fall in love with the soil type. As he described it, the soil composition seems to be black cotton with a mixture of sand which makes it a bit more loose than the regular black cotton which is very compact and thick. The fact that the land has been fallow for a few years made it even better. He also praised the fact that there is a lot of manure in the soil coming from goat droppings as the land owner keeps a small herd of about 60 goats which at this time of year are a gold mine because I heard that come December he can sell each at Kshs 10,000. Farming is just too exciting. And to think that the only expense those goats are incurring is almost nothing because they are let loose in the morning and they eat the hay-like grass that is common in Kitengela and only come for a drink of water occasionally.

Looking at all these cash generating avenues, I get very excited and its no secret that this January when everyone has finished celebrating Christmas and are looking for school fees, goats will become very cheap once again and I will get a few to keep. Anyway, back to the preliminary assessment. Mr Wainaina was on board with the idea of letting loose a tractor on the land to clear it through. After that, he advised that the first crop should be either onions, hoho or beans with a few lines of maize and bananas all around the perimeter to act as part windbreakers.

He also took a sample of the borehole water to make a test and establish its acidity and hence know which crops would do well there. The owner had done one earlier but had probably misplaced the test and hence the need for a new one. Well, that's about where we left off until the tractor tills the land after which he will come back and lay out the physical plan of the Shamba (farm). Till then, I sign off and sign out of Facebook where I have just 'shared' this post.

Preparation

The farming drive is coming along so beautifully. Yesterday I had a meeting with an agricultural consultant on how to proceed on the farm. Mr Wainaina works with DOOR International which is where we met at their offices and farm in Rongai and I got to see the work he has done for them so far. I have to admit its a pretty impressive operation because the five acre farm is able to make an average of Kshs 200,000 every month by producing various types of crops and fish fingerlings.

As we continued to engage, I decided to have him advice me on my venture as opposed to going to Amiran Kenya straight away. He in fact discouraged me from starting off with the greenhouse because I am still 'green' at this and hence the need to familiarize myself with the operations of a farm. He however said that as we go along, then conditions might get perfect for the introduction of a greenhouse on the farm. We also discussed the option of keeping rabbits, quails and German Shepherds for sale to mostly private security companies and individuals.

It is to this end that today I went to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock veterinary at Ngong to book rabbits for breeding. A kid is going for Kshs 750 and it is my desire to have at least five. While there, I also booked a three day training session for November on the rearing of rabbits for commercial purposes.

Tomorrow I will be taking Mr Wainaina, the consultant, to the farm to do an initial assessment to work out a plan of action that will include things to do as well as expectations on the financial gain from the activities that I will be engaging in. I believe that working with professionals where money is involved and expected is always the right way to go about it, after all, I am getting into farming as a business not as a hobby. He was a lecturer at JKUAT at one point and hence has a repository of knowledge and practical experience which I want to harness for the farm.

May the farming begin.

fallow land

My family recently acquired three acres of farmland near Kitengela town and it is my intention to put up a greenhouse on the land to produce peppers and other products for sale locally and for export. Having been a poet before, I am now about to make the transition onto farming and hence the title of my blog. This blog will serve the purpose of documenting my journey for the next two years as I dip myself into the world of farming.

The main reason behind my transition is a realization that there isn't much headroom for growth in the poetry industry and a recent major disappointment has only reinforced this. I am thus in search of a more productive path that is not office-related. We have been rearing chicken and I have been the defacto caretaker of those fowls and this will be just an extension of that farming spirit.

The farm is part of a larger portion owned by a family friend and he has built a temporary house on the farm and several Servants' Quarters where he used to house his workers. Did I forget to mention that he used to farm there and has now ceased to do so. Part of the reason why he quit farming is that he suffered major losses for two seasons and was unable to recover from the crop failure. In light of this, I intend to make arrangements for a farming insurance cover to take care of the risks involved and not suffer the same fate.

As part of the farming expedition, I will move into one of the SQ's on site and through that keep a close eye on the activities going on in the farm. My plan is to set up a greenhouse and irrigate with the water on the farm from an earlier existing borehole. To this end, I am about to make contact with a farm solutions provider Amiran Kenya who have special farm kits for small to medium scale farmers. I also talked to another family friend about the challenges he had faced when he was running a greenhouse in his backyard. Among the prominent ones were the sensitivity of the crops given that the greenhouse creates a micro-climate and thus the need to protect that micro-climate from external factors. He cited the fact that at one point he woke up to find the tomatoes he was farming burnt by a disease which he suspects one of the workers brought into the greenhouse the day earlier. The crops are that sensitive. Amiran Kenya however provides special gear for the farmer which is disinfected and worn over regular clothes to minimize the transfer of diseases from the outside world into the greenhouse. In fact, Amiran have a whole support network to ensure that the farmer not only gets a greenhouse but also the appropriate seeds, fertilizers and pesticides as well as market for their produce. This has really encouraged me given that I have no prior training or experience in commercial farming. Their monthly visits to the farm will also be helpful in monitoring the greenhouse and the crops to make sure that everything is going according to plan. To this end, I feel that I am getting into farming with the right people, tools and resources to ensure a bumper harvest and money in the bank. I look forward to a journey of discovery and abundant growth. Amen