16 Country Life in BC • February 2013

by TAMARA LEIGH

NAIROBI – Harambee is aSwahili word meaning “let us allpull together” – it is the nationalmotto of Kenya, and an aptdescription of the spirit that ishelping Kenyan agriculture grow.In a country where the need forfood security, reliable energy andrural economic development isgreat and government supportsare few, farmers and social entre-preneurs are pulling together tofind creative solutions that willmeet the needs of their neigh-bours and the nation.

Agriculture is one of the pri-mary drivers of the Kenyan econ-omy. It accounts for 25 percent ofthe GDP, and employs 75 percentof working age Kenyans. Cashcrops like tea, coffee and tobaccodominate exports, along with ahorticulture sector that suppliesroses and other flowers toEuropean and American markets.

Like many African countries,small farms dominate the agricul-ture sector. Nationally, over 80percent of food is produced onfarms of less than five acres. Mostfarmers grow just enough to feedtheir families, while those whogrow enough to sell face chal-lenges getting their crops to mar-ket because of poor transporta-

tion and storage infrastructure.

History of stops and starts

While agriculture in Kenyaboomed after independence in1963 and into the 1970s, develop-ment ground to a halt in the 80sand 90s as the government imple-ment Structural AdjustmentPrograms at the encouragementof the World Bank andInternational Monetary Fund,rapidly privatizing previouslyregulated markets and cuttingfunding to programs includingagricultural extension andresearch.

“In the 90s, when the WorldBank said liberalize, Kenya wentoverboard and liberalized every-thing,” says Rien Geuze, businessdevelopment manager with theDutch agri-development organi-zation, Agriterra. “Sometimesyou need to go back to the middleand have a certain amount ofagriculture policy.”

The poorly sequenced decen-tralization resulted in the near-collapse of major national institu-tions including the largest dairyco-operative in the country,Kenya Co-operative Creamery.Even now, the cereals industry isstruggling to find a system ofmarketing and governance thatwill work for the millions of

small-scale maize growers acrossthe country that grow Kenya’sfood staple.

Without a strong central direc-tion from government, Kenyanfarmers are building capacitythrough community-level initia-tives that are addressing issuesfor growers, developing capacityfor value-adding and encourag-ing innovation and farmer educa-tion. One of the most impressive

examples of these farmer-led ini-tiatives is the Keekonyokie live-stock market and slaughterhousein Kiserian, one hour southwestof Nairobi.

The livestock sector is sup-plied largely by the Maasai, atribe of nomadic pastoralists whomigrate throughout southernKenya and northern Tanzania,following the rains with their cat-tle, sheep and goats. In 1981, a

Kenyan agriculturedriven by socialentrepreneurs,co-operatives

group of Maasai families formedan association and established thelivestock market and slaughter-house to improve access to theNairobi markets for their tribalgroup, develop relationships toensure a constant supply of live-stock to that market, and improveslaughter practices.

The livestock market providesa place where pastoralists canimprove profits by selling theiranimals directly to customers,and the slaughterhouse providesstructure and standards that pro-duce higher quality of meat withsome veterinary oversight.

The slaughterhouse does notbuy or sell livestock; it provides aservice to the small butchers andrestaurants that buy live animalsat the market. Meat moves fromthe slaughterhouse to consumersquickly. Kenyan is a “warmmeat” market, so what is slaugh-tered in the morning is sold andserved that evening. Thirty per-cent of the meat eaten in Nairobicomes from the plant in Kiserian.

“A vibrant livestock trademaintains this town,” saysMichael Kibue, the manager ofthe project, as we move throughthe crush of people and livestockin the muddy market yard. “Overtwo hundred thousand tradition-al Maasai families depend on thismarket.”

Cows to kilowatts

In 2005, with the town grow-ing up around them and com-plaints increasing about theslaughterhouse waste thatpoured down the side of a nearbyhill into a nearby river, the associ-ation installed two anaerobicdigesters to produce biogas. It

Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africathat lies on the equator. With the Indian Ocean to its south-east, it isbordered by Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, South Sudanto the north-west, Ethiopia to the north and Somalia to the north-east.Kenya has a land area of 580,000 km2 and a population of a little over43 million residents. The country is named after Mount Kenya, a sig-nificant landmark and second among Africa’s highest mountain peaks.

Tamara Leigh recently returned from Kenya, where she was oneof 15 journalists from around the world to participate in

Exposure-4-Development, a study tour organized byNetherlands-based group, Agriterra, and the International

Federation of Agriculture Journalists.

Please see “Biogas” page 17

Negotiationstake place inboisterousgroups, jostling,laughing andchiding as theymove about themarket.(Tamara Leighphotos)

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