My Tours on Mountains

 

    By Ras Benaiah

Greetings extended family!

New moons, full moons and Sabbaths have passed, and thus marking the passage of time for the farmer. I&I are farmer and highly proud and grateful to JAH for this. 

 

I&I, once again, is thankful to JAH to be back after that break, to write on this page of I-story.

The scene in the Shiriki I-monstration farm at Maragua is full of hope with the fields covered with a green mantle of corn, cowpeas, hibiscus, pumpkins, beans, eggplants, pigeon peas, bananas, Irish potatoes, comfrey and Ethiopian kales, mango, moringa oleifera, croton, guava, fig and avocado trees, among others. Currently, the main occupation is weeding in the maize fields which are mainly intercropped with beans.

Since the onset of the long rains, collection of indigenous seeds has been intensified. We had the opportunity of receiving pumpkin seeds from Kerugoya, near Mt. Kirinyaga. Myself, I was fortunate to acquire at least five different indigenous breeds of bananas from the foothills of Mt. Kirinyaga.

The Valley in Between

I left the capital Nairobi for Mukurwe-ini District [‘mukurwe-ini’ means ‘within a valley’], a land which geographically is a valley of small hills and it is tucked in between the slopes of Mt. Kirinyaga to the East and Nyandarua Ranges to the west. My mission in the hilly valley is primarily twofold; to check the extended family after a long time, and to gather as much indigenous seeds as I can to take to the Shiriki farm in Maragua.

The valley of hills.

Poor farming methods.

During my visit to Mukurwe-ini, I was able to observe and learn about the progress on farming, which happens to be the main occupation of the residents of this area. Unfortunately, I didn’t see self-sustained farmers despite the fact that this occupation, which is a sacred task graciously conferred upon man by God, is meant to serve as the source of his well-being and the basis of his wealth. Families rely on the local kiosks for packed white corn flour. On the same breath, most people have to buy vegetables too due to the fact that only a handful of farmers are able to carry on with food production during the dry seasons of the year by way of irrigation. 

Additionally, due to this economic pressure, most farmers have turned to zero grazing for milk, which they sell to local brokers and at the end of the month, get a pay-slip. Due to this, I found out that a large percentage of farmers have, disproportionally, allocated the better part of their farms for napier grass, and the remaining portions of farm can hardly produce enough sustenance to last families till the next season.

Besides, this ‘milk farming’ is taking almost all of a farmer’s time in a day. One has to go gather for the sometimes scarce fodder for hours, whereby cattle needs loads of fodder to fill their belly and produce enough milk for consumption and for sale (and hardly nothing for the calf whom it’s meant for). Again, due to the demanding nature of maintaining zero-grazing, production of human food plays a second fiddle. This left me with the question, why someone with a farm has to employ this apparently longer way where he seeks money to buy food rather than simply plant it and nourish? 

Another dire issue is the effects of using artificial chemicals among the farmers here. Earlier on this blog we reported similar problem as affecting the farmers in Maragua too.  It is true that the farmers’ backs are against the wall! This is so because many years of using artificial fertilizers in their farms has led to the depletion of the lands fruitfulness. At the same time, the soil has developed an abnormal dependency on the artificial fertilizers meaning that without applying the same one cannot even hope for a least performance. 

Consequently, this has made the farmers here quite desperate and also has demoralized them towards farming. No wonder virtually all the young men who have been left behind while their peers migrated to the city are in the motorbike industry, yet they are the ones with the strength to till the land and feed the nation!

Among other issues of great concern that I noticed includes environmental degradation and the consequent soil erosion. It is in this district that recently occurred a mudslide leading to loss of one tender life, injuries to a couple of people and a general destruction of property.

Thus being the case, I came up with a conclusion - that our people need to be empowered with knowledge which is a basic ingredient to practicing agriculture and maintaining a good environment. They need knowledge for unless they take it upon themselves to bring a change, no one will come to do it for them! I mean knowledge on water harvesting in order to allow for continuous food production (especially vegetables) during the dry months of the year, knowhow on environmental care & proper land utilization, crop diversification and rotation, organic farming entailing composting, natural pest and disease control as well as natural ways of preserving farm produce.

It is my earnest prayer that the fruits of the activities of Shiriki Organization will one day, with fullness, reach the people of Mukurwe-ini, indeed the entire Afrika awaits its creators!