Where it all began
Our adventures in Kenya began in 2010 when Tim Fox told me about a group of orphan children near the town of Butere who struggled to eat on a regular basis. Villagers didn’t have enough to always feed their own children, so orphan children were often left to go hungry. After helping out his friend Gibson Shiraku at nearby Martha’s Guest House, Tim now had an offer of a piece of land from Gibson to help feed these children.
This would be a challenge. The land had not been cultivated for many years and was a wasteland overgrown with weeds. Tim and I worked out some numbers and reckoned that we could raise some funds over the next three years to make this a viable farming project, with the aim of feeding the children in a way that could become self-sustaining.
So in 2010 we raised funds and made a visit to do our due diligence – the orphan children existed (tick), the land existed (tick), and we met with Wycliffe Obege who Tim had known through the Kenyan YMCA and was interested in becoming the project manager (tick).
Everything was in place and work began in February 2011 to clear the land, erect a perimeter fence, and begin planting.
We grew maize as this is the staple diet in the area, providing bags of maize to the local primary schools to supplement their daily lunches. All pupils are required to pay a small fee for lunch and take in produce, usually either maize or vegetables which are then prepared and served to the children. Orphan children don’t have access to this produce, so our donations provided their contribution.
Digging a borehole
One of the early plans was to dig a borehole and install a hand pump. This would provide water on site but also allow the local villagers to collect clean fresh water nearby and avoid a long walk to other pumps or the river. There was no piped water I the village and other nearby pumps would often break down, with no funds for maintenance they easily fell into disuse.
We made sure that our bore hole and pump were maintained, and it was only in later years that we began to charge villagers (a small amount) to collect water.
These funds were then set aside to create a fund specifically so that there was money to maintain the pump in good working order. This was part of our desire to see our projects self-sustaining – without the need for continuous overseas aid.
The bore hole continues to provide access to clean water to local villagers each day, reducing the distance they need to walk for water. And there is now a dispenser where villagers can add chlorine to ensure the water is safe to drink.
Livestock and crops
On the plot, we also built a cow shed to provide shelter for three cows, with a paddock area so that they can graze each day without the need for constant supervision. Napier grass is grown on the farm to feed the cows and excess supplies are sold off at the local markets. This may well prove to be a better long-term bet as napier grass seems to offer a more commercial return and therefore better use of the land than maize.
Over the years we also had a supply of fruit and vegetables that were taken to the local market for sale. These included bananas, pawpaw, sugar cane, avocado, cassava, kale, even pumpkin and pumpkin leaves.
And Wycliffe planted pine, eucalyptus, and grevillea trees, some which have already been sold and more that will mature in coming years.
He even made bricks from the heavy red clay soil (though these were sold at around 30 for £1).
Plants and seeds were regularly donated to villagers to help them establish better farming from their own small-holdings and fruit and vegetables were occasionally given during times of extreme hardship.
School education
Our links with the local primary schools allowed us to establish a partnership between Ebubala Primary School and Applecroft School in Welwyn Garden City, where the children became pen-pals, exchanging letters and pictures each year.
And the children at Ebubala Primary School were able to take part in a ‘Growing Minds’ project where we gave up a portion of the land so that one year group of children could plant some kale and other vegetables. It meant that they were able to put their agriculture theory lessons into practice. Each child was allocated a plot about 8’ by 4’. They had to dig the plot, select the seeds to plant, then weed or water their plot as the seed grew.
They got to keep whatever they produced, and some took food home to supplement their family income, others sold their produce to buy pens, paper or books for school, and some bought sweets to give themselves a treat.
And of course the farm was a base for many of the children we sponsored through school from that area. Thirty-five out of the 300 children who have received scholarships, have been from the Butere area and many have spent time at the farm during their school holidays, revising, receiving guidance from Wycliffe, or just hanging out with friends.
And over time we improved the small house that stood on the land, replaced a toilet, added a new bed and bedding and even connected the plot to an electricity supply.
Looking to the future
Each month Wycliffe produced a report showing how much we had produced and what had been earned in sales, together with the costs of operating.
Over the years we produced between £600-£800 of income each year, which meant that while we were still paying Wycliffe and one casual labourer, we were subsidising the farm largely from the twice yearly quiz nights. We had agreed a plan that each year we would reduce the amount we paid to Wycliffe, with more of his income coming from produce sold locally. But it was not becoming self-funding.
It was clear that with falling maize prices, this could only be grown profitably on a very large scale. The income we received barely covered the cost of ploughing, seeds and fertilizer.
In many ways this demonstrated the problem faced by local families. Our plot is around 2-acres, while many villagers would aim to survive on an acre or so. Most grow maize and vegetables to provide food for their family. Any excess is sold at local markets, however, the price of these remains low. Families have a subsistence living, unable to earn income for luxuries – which includes secondary school education. This explains why so many children are in need of scholarships for secondary school.
A route to self-sufficiency
The issue therefore seems to find ways of farming these small family plots that can earn higher incomes. This means focusing on higher-value products. So we looked at ways to show villagers how this might be done, by engaging agricultural advisors from the UN Farmer Field Schools programme. Their advice for this area was to focus on specialised dairy, poultry, fish and beekeeping.
So in September 2021, training began at the farm in Butere and in the village of Mundeku, provided every two weeks by the Farmer Field Schools advisors, for around 15-20 people in each village.
The group in Butere began to learn how to raise chickens on a scale sufficient to generate a meaningful income, rather than the one or two that often roam around a small-holding to provide eggs for the family. This group has stalled due to problems completing the building of the hen house.
But the group in Mundeku seem to be having more success. We have funded the renovation of two fish ponds at the Aaron Fox Farm and around 600 fingerlings have been introduced into the ponds. The group are learning how to raise these Tilapia and Mudfish (or Catfish as we might know them) and hopefully we will see the first harvest later in 2022.
The training group must first pay back the operating costs (mostly feed) and they get to split any profits. The aim is to give them a practical demonstration how these can be raised to provide a better income than relying on maize and vegetables alone.
We have also bought four bee-hives for the Mundeku group which have already been colonised by bees taking advantage of the local flowers and vegetation. Again we hope to see the first honey produced later in the year. If successful, this may see villagers buy their own hives and form a co-operative to process and sell honey more widely.
Ultimately the villagers need to find ways to generate higher incomes if they are to finally escape the cycle of poverty and reliance on aid through programmes like our scholarships.
A new direction
Having invested £30,000 in the farm over the last 11 years, we had to assess whether continuing to fund the farm provided good value for money. After all, £300 would fund another child with a scholarship to secondary school. With the charitable benefit from the farm reducing, and not wanting to simply keep pumping money in, the Trustees decided it was the right time to hand the management of the farm back to Tim and Mama Judy, the landowners. It is hoped that with close local management it can then become a more commercial operation and continue to benefit the local community.
There have certainly been many, many benefits to this community over the years, and we are delighted to hand the farm back in good condition.
And we retain our interest in Mundeku and Butere, through the children we support, the Farmer Field Schools training programmes, and a seedball experiment we are conducting through funding from Rotary in the UK.
Seedballs
Western Kenya is certainly being affected by climate change, with more prolonged droughts, followed by periods of heavier rains. The droughts prevent farmers from planting crops and then the rains come and frequently wash away cops that have been sown. With villagers reliant on these crops for their already meagre income, this pushes them further and further towards poverty.
Agroforestry may have a role to play in easing this, helping villagers achieve food security whilst mitigating climate change, by reducing soil erosion and limiting the impact on water usage, plus improving biodiversity.
We have been able to buy and distribute seedballs to several groups in the area. These are a variety of indigenous species including Sesbania and Dombeya which will support beekeeping and can feed dairy cows. Each group has simply been asked to monitor how many germinate and develop into fully grown trees or bushes.
So the adventure in farming evolves.