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."
 

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.9

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.

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