JUL.-DEC. 2023
food till I was challenged to start a business delivering
organic veggies under the brand name, Sylvia’s Basket in
2016.
It was an exciting journey to embark on a fresh organic
produce business till a severe drought hit us in 2017 and
we lost all our produce. We stalled on the business and
only resumed in 2019 when El nino came with gusto.
In 2019 we opened our organic farm shop in Nairobi.
The growth was slow till Covid- 19 happened and
everyone needed honey, lemons and ginger. Because
of the restricted movements we were able to grow our
home delivery model and to date only 10% of our clients
actually know where our physical location is. We deliver
more than 100 baskets weekly to families in Nairobi and
source from 30+ small scale organic farmers.
We have employed Agroecology and regenerative
principles on our land and have seen our farm grow in
leaps and bounds we have planted more than 3000
trees that have created a micro climate to encourage
high yields with diversity that buffers us from negative
effects of climate change. A quick example to show us
how diversity is key is that our pest population on our 10
acres piece of land is less than 10%. Our monthly inputs
on organic pesticide is only 5 Euros to support 3.5 acres
of vegetables. Mother nature is doing her work dealing
with pests.
This sounds quite rosy so far but it is riddled with
undercurrents of challenges. I am lucky to have received
a lot of support from my family to set up my outlet and
have access to land to grow our organic produce.
I would like to share some reflections that we can ponder
as we consider growing agroecological enterprises.
•
You see, the civil society and NGOs that are working
in the organic sector mainly focus on production,
what has happened over time is that there are
thousands of farmers growing sustainable produce
but are unable to access markets. Most of these
organizations I have approached to support the
growing agroecological enterprises always give the
same answer, “I am sorry but we do not support
businesses.” This greatly discourages the whole value
chain. Farmers are the most discouraged because
with time they see no need continuing with organic
and sustainable farming practices. If you buy organic
produce, you encourage organic farmers to grow
food more sustainably and improve the climate crisis
we are in, so it’s a high time we put in great support
to agroecological enterprises.
•
Access to knowledge on organic and sustainable
agriculture has been there and currently we have a
GIZ funded project in Kenya on Setting up Knowledge
hubs for organic agriculture. We need to link these
trainings to markets otherwise pure knowledge
without practice and no money in farmers pockets
will take us nowhere.
•
The bureaucracy of applying for funds is almost
impossible
and
not
accessible
to
the
real
beneficiaries, the farmers. Most of these applications
are extremely technical and limited to only a few
educated and well-connected individuals who claim
to represent farmers but use most of the funds for
“administrative purposes.” It is important to have
checks and balances but most come at the expense
of undermining the real beneficiaries from accessing
the support.
•
We don’t have a weather station in my region! It is
almost impossible to predict
the weather and the old men
who would help us predict
patterns
are
almost
all
gone and we are struggling
with the stark reality that
weather
patterns
have
changed. If only we had
more predictable support
this
would
help
farmers
plan
better
and
grow
their appropriate crops in
season.
•
Finally, we need to emphasise
on banning highly hazardous
pesticides that have been
banned in the EU but are
still in circulation in Kenya.
These double standards are
compromising our efforts in
Kenya and Africa as whole
from meeting our climate
adaption goals. As a farmer I
am a member of the Heinrich
Boll Foundation and we are
actively working on having
these hazardous pesticides
banned from Kenya. Recent
research shows that 63% of
pesticides sold in the Kenyan
market are classified as
HHP!! The double standards
must stop!
•
We need to listen to farmer
voices
because
without
famers none of us would be
alive today.
If you buy organic
produce, you
encourage
organic farmers
to grow food
more sustainably
and improve the
climate crisis we
are in...
contd from p.1