“You don’t need to have large tracts of land to earn good money from farming. That small piece of land is enough to not only feed your family but also have some surplus for sale if you work smart on whatever land you have.”
This quote is by Mrs. Isabella Kiplagat from Koisungur village in Keiyo North subcounty, who resides on a ¼ of an acre of land on which she also practices farming for financial upkeep.
In an area where people possess acres and acres of land, Isabella’s farm evidently looks out of place from a casual viewer. But wait until one gets the detailed story of the small piece of land and its economic value.
Mrs. Kiplagat, who started farming in 2014, decided to use the land resource she had at her disposal to assist her husband in bringing up their family instead of sitting at home waiting for him to provide.
The mother of three says her husband works in Eldoret while she stays at home taking care of the family. “I therefore decided to use my time at home to see what I can do to supplement what I get from my husband,” she said.
In Elgeyo Marakwet, maize farming is the main agricultural activity, and due to its high altitude in the highlands, one can only plant once in a year. Therefore, for someone with a small parcel of land, Mrs. Kiplagat said, maize farming was not viable.
“This is the reason I chose to engage in mixed farming, which is so far more beneficial compared to maize alone,” she said.
Mrs. Kiplagat does both livestock and crop farming.
She has two cows and a calf on her farm. Each of the cows gives her 10–12 litres per day. She sells 20 litres, leaving the balance for her family. With a litre of milk selling at sh.60, she is assured of getting at least sh.36,000 per month in addition to having enough milk for home consumption.
She added that she no longer buys charcoal or firewood as she has invested in biogas using the waste from her two cows, thus saving on the family’s cooking energy expenses. This, she says, has helped her to contribute in her own way to environmental conservation as she does not need to cut trees for fuel.
She added that due to the size of her land, she does not intend to increase the number of cows, and therefore she regularly sells them when they multiply, to meet her family’s financial needs, especially school fees.
“On the same farm, I keep chicken, thus ensuring that my family has enough supply of eggs and chicken meat, with the surplus going to the market,” she said.
Apart from chickens, Mrs. Kiplagat also rears ducks and a number of geese, which she says are her security. “The geese will alert me whenever there is a stranger within the compound or any other danger which may lurk around threatening the chicken. I also sell them sometimes when I get clients.,” she said.
Pig rearing is not common in the area, but Mrs. Kiplagat has also ventured into it, saying so far she has sold two of them, getting sh. 42,000. “I sold a mature pig at Sh. 28,500 and a 5-month-old piglet at Sh. 13,500, which gave me the motivation to continue with the rearing of pigs,” she said.
The farmer says lack of fertiliser, which has forced the government to offer subsidies on the commodity, does not bother her because the manure from the livestock, besides being used for biogas, is also used in the planting of vegetables, which is another stream of income.
She continued that she cooks the vegetables for the pigs, saving her the cost of feeds in addition to giving the same to her birds.
On a small portion of the ¼ acre she has also started pyrethrum farming, and with the county government having reached a deal with the Kentegra company to buy the flowers from farmers even with the least produce, this has just added to her income.
Isabella says she makes over Sh 60,000 monthly from her combined income from her mixed farming. She is calling on women to be self-reliant financially by investing in their farms, saying it does not need a heavy investment to start.
By Alice Wanjiru
