I know there are many farmers out there who are already struggling to put food on the table because of the many challenges the world is facing today. But today, in this post, I’ll be mentioning only two farmers who I think I have credible evidence to support and conclude that their livelihoods are at stake if they don’t wake up now.
One of the farmers is the one still depending on rain-fed crop farming and the other being the nomadic pastoralist.
These two type of farmers are traditionally antagonist in nature, of course if you put into consideration the conflicts we’ve had in the past and one our Kenyan government is still struggling to come up with a deliberated solution that would be long lasting and put an end to the perennial armed fighting in the parts of Eastern, North, and Eastern parts of Kenya that had led to the loss of both life and property. But I believe if they don’t realize the danger looming in the offing they’d know longer have anything to quarrel about soon enough.
Today there are a myriad challenges affecting farming, ranging from the much talked climate change, population growth, urbanization, just to name a few. I’ve especially mentioned these three since I believe they’ve directly contributed to the decline of these two types of farming that was once popular and for the longest time the biggest source of livelihoods for our people in the past.
To the crop farmer still depending on rain to raise crops on his/her farm and sustain livelihoods is being threatened by the effects of global warming that has seen a change in rain patterns. I for one come from Busia, Western Kenya, a region that still fully depends on rain and I’ve seen the effect this has had on our lives. Growing up there was plenty of rain, in fact we used to complain about it as kids, and the rain season used to be from late February to early June when the farmers would plant maize, beans, cassava, sweet potatoes, et cetera and then there would come the second rain season that same year when we would plant again maize and beans (these two were constant), millet, sorghum, sesame, and a repetition of some that I have already mentioned. And our people would have bumper harvests. Hunger was unheard of!
But now rains are thin, they come like they’re being forced to come. They’re unpredictable, come late; at times early and sometimes when they come they wreak a havoc. So the rain fed agriculture has become a one expensive venture for the poor rural farmer with that tiny piece of land. And the population increase has also played a part as it has led to land fragmentation that has left the farmer with only a small parcel of land on which to farm, hence with the unpredictable rains, the farmer can no longer sustain himself.
Nomadic pastoralist. Now to this farmer whose livelihood has for a long time been solely dependent on livestock like the Maasai, the Turkana and their warring neighbors, the Pokot, and there’s the Borana, the Somali, and the Rendile communities. Milk, meat and blood from their livestock is their food. Not until recently most didn’t even know what ugali, our staple food was and yet we live in the same country. And it was not until recently when I visited Kajiado — I’ll be here for a while to have an opportunity to learn agribusiness and have the necessary skills and knowledge to do sustainable farming back home after my stint here — that I came to learn that people actually drink sheep milk. Who would’ve imagined that! I had to call mom and Abraham, my nephew to tell them and they too had never heard of that. In fact mom told me stop cause she was going to throw up. But here in Kajiado, the Maasai, especially the ones who keep only sheep, milk them. Who would waste money to go and buy milk from a neighbor who owns cattle, or packet milk from a shop when they have hundreds of lactating sheep?
So being here and having the opportunity to just observe the Maasai and their livestock and with luck talking to some herds boy, and as much as it’s thrilling, it has also led me to the awareness of their plight. You talk to a maasai old man and all you hear apart from the pain of reminiscence plain in his eyes, is pride for his way of life and blame for urbanization which has led to fragmentation of what was once community land, hence fewer and fewer grazing land. The Kajiado of today is no longer a one vast plain land of sprawling savannah where wild animals roamed freely but one with more and more private own lands with luxury homes, a few skyscrapers, and well-fenced mechanized farms like the one I’m currently at.
Now there are more and more fences being erected with every sunrise living the nomadic pastoralist with fewer and fewer grazing land and of course more and more agitated and in constant conflict with these intruders who is killing his way of life. You can imagine the distress a farmer is caused when they wake up to take their livestock out to graze and find that there’s a new fence shinning along the path they used the previous day. I’ve seen frustrated cattle with the help of their herders breaking down fences that end in lawsuits.
A cow doesn’t understand how come she’s grazing on a bare ground while there is greener pastures on a well watered lawn on the other side of the fence, or why she has to stay thirsty while there’s water running on a fountain in some some rich man’s home.
Own words
So urbanization has affected them so much and this is also attributed to the fact that our population as a country is increasing by each day making people to migrate to other regions and the semi arid lands have not been spared.
Climate change has not spared the nomads either as it has left their livestock dead many times due to droughts which leaves these people starving and depending on aid to survive.
As you can see nomadic pastoralism is no longer working, and neither is rain-fed crop farming. These two farmers need to smell the coffee. Burying their heads in the sand like the proverbial ostrich isn’t going to change the reality. But I know it’s easier said than done. Becoming a modern smart farmer isn’t cheap. You need funds. Go to Amiran Kenya and ask for drips, or tell them you need a greenhouse and see the figures you’ll be given at the end of the day. These poor farmers need government help which has forgotten about them — I’ve never seen a public extension agents in my village. They need to be educated on better farming, provided with grants and market for their produce. This role has been left to the private sector which is only fleecing the poor and charging exorbitant prices for inputs.
The nomadic pastoralist need to be educated on better farming systems like the zero grazing where with the help of professionals they can keep better and quality breeds.