Cash Crops and Tear Gas
It’s business as usual in Kakamega, which is why I haven’t written much lately. I’m still waiting on the grant that will get things going on flour processing. I’ve been told the money is coming in July but since the funding is coming from the Government of Kenya it’s hard not to be skeptical. I also now have a certificate from KARI (Kenya Agricultural Research Institute) saying we certified and trained in Sweet Potato Value addition, which will be helpful in finding markets in Nairobi.
I’ve been doing research on other cash crops that have the potential to make a lot of money for the farmers here. One of them, Passion Fruit, yields over $500 per acre per month when cultivated properly. That’s almost enough to convince me to buy a large plot of land, cover it with passion fruit, exploit the extremely cheap and readily available local labor, and reap the profits. Of course, with that kind of mindset I could probably rule out any invitation as a guest speaker for future Peace Corps events.
Seriously, passion fruit does have a lot of potential here. There are trucks coming from Uganda to purchase it, and as of now they are buying every piece of fruit they can get their hands on. The problem is input costs. Even though a single plant can continue bearing fruits for up to seven years, the initial costs of the seedlings, fertilizer, and preparation of the land is too much for most farmers to be able to afford. Another issue is security. Raiding the passion fruit shamba (garden) would be a favorite pastime for school children, who I already see stealing from sugarcane fields and running alongside cane trailers pulling out as much cane as they can grab.
There is one potential solution to the funding issue. Our Network has recently started a loans committee for farmer groups, lending out up to about $400 per group with only 5% interest. It is something being implemented by the FAO. They want to use our network as a pilot program to see if it will work. What concerns me is that it will just take is one bad growing season or one slump in the market for groups to start defaulting on their loans. Regardless, the cost to start up an acre of passion fruit is also around $400, so after I’ve done a little more research on the market there’s a chance we can get somewhere with this.
Another even more promising crop that I’m already working with is the African bird’s eye chili pepper. There is a market in nearby Eldoret, where they are being flown for export to Germany. They are the spiciest little peppers anywhere, even hotter than Habernero. Just looking at them wrong will make your eyes water. Needless to say, security from thieving children is not an issue and they do a great job keeping other pests out of the shamba as well. The peppers are easy to grow, drought resistant, and supposedly can earn a farmer around $400 per month off a single acre. Some of the peppers making their way to the European market are being processed and sold for sauces and food, but they are also being exported for use as tear gas. It’s a great feeling to know that, with help from the farmers, I could assist European police with riot control, or provide the German military with an effective weapon should they get the urge to invade Poland again. After all, that’s what the Peace Corps is all about. Come to think about it I’ve found a solution for keeping children out of our passion fruit fields as well.
The way I see it though, the demand for tear gas peppers has to come from somewhere, so why not western Kenya? It’s a ton of money that both the farmers and the network needs. I’ve had a specialist for these peppers come speak to the network chairman, and I have managed to convince about ten farmers to start quarter acre test plots. If the market is as readily available and profitable as I have been told, then we are really on to something. The first harvest for these peppers will be in about five month’s time and I’ll know then if the crop is worthy of being promoted throughout the network.
Finally, there is a tree called Moringa Oleifera I am working with. Its pods and leaves are the most nutritious vegetable on the planet. It reduces blood pressure, controls diabetes, and even boosts the immune systems of people with HIV/AIDS. I’ve been mixing a spoonful of the dried leaf powder into my food everyday and feel great. Google it if you are skeptical or bored. There is an organisation nearby that sells the seeds in bulk, and I have purchased enough to make around 50 bags that the network is selling for a very low price to farmers. I’ve also created a brochure about Moringa that I am including with the seeds, and am keeping a log of all farmers who are purchasing the seeds. I am hoping a Moringa specialist will be able to come and conduct a training session on the crop. As of now there is not a huge local market for Moringa, but it does a great job targeting malnutrition and I am promoting it for household use more than anything. The Moringa foundation, where I purchased the seeds, is currently applying for a grant to being processing and selling Moringa products. If that is successful, then the market for Moringa would create another cash crop.
I've also been doing a lot of brainstorming on what I can do to help orphan children here, particularly the Wake Up Women’s group I have been working with that has been so determined to start an Orphanage. I recently visited an organisation in Kisumu called the Pamoja foundation, and I really like what they are doing. They find host families for orphan children, then monitor their care and make sure they are getting nutritious meals and are going to school. They also provide sessions for the kids on HIV/AIDS education, assertiveness training for the girls, etc. The children are taken care of all the way through secondary school, and the promising kids are even helped out with University fees. Right now it is only costing about $30 a month to sponsor each child, which is much less an orphanage would cost. With the Pamoja foundation, the host parents are part of the organisation and they attend regular meetings. They have become their own community of “Pamoja Parents” and they check up on each other and work as a team to make sure the kids are well taken care of. I really like the concept and may try to adapt the same principle to the Wake up Women’s group here in Kakamega. The most important issue for such a program to work would be a reliable and honest contact person here in Kenya, and I know I would have no problem trusting Habakkuk with that role.
An important point was brought up by my visit with Pamoja foundation. Kenya is an incredibly community-based culture. Family, friends, neighbors, and relatives all look out for each other in a big way. When a kid is sent to an orphanage, that group becomes their community. After they are finished with secondary school (which still leaves them very unlikely to find a decent job), their community is gone, and where do they turn to if they run into trouble? The more I think about it, the more I like the concept of leaving the children in the village while making sure their needs are met. I’m planning to do a little further research on how the Pamoja foundation, so stay tuned. If things fall into place in a way that might lead to a sustainable project then I may start my first fundraiser in the near future.
I haven’t even started talking about the latest updates with the Wheelchair project, HIV/AIDs education, and the community based organisation I’m working with near Eldoret, but I’ll save updates on those projects for another time. Things are going full-throttle now and I love it. I met in Eldoret this afternoon to talk with several Agronomists concerning cash crops, I have a meeting tomorrow with the CBO I’m assisting nearby, then it’s off to Webuye (the stinkiest town in the world: a raw sewage lake on one side of the road, a paper mill on the other) for a week of Peace Corps “Cross-Sector training”, whatever the heck that means. After that it’s off to Nairobi for a 4th of July party at the International School. All Americans living in Kenya are invited so that should make for a good time. I’ll give an update again when I return from Nairobi.
I’ve been doing research on other cash crops that have the potential to make a lot of money for the farmers here. One of them, Passion Fruit, yields over $500 per acre per month when cultivated properly. That’s almost enough to convince me to buy a large plot of land, cover it with passion fruit, exploit the extremely cheap and readily available local labor, and reap the profits. Of course, with that kind of mindset I could probably rule out any invitation as a guest speaker for future Peace Corps events.
Seriously, passion fruit does have a lot of potential here. There are trucks coming from Uganda to purchase it, and as of now they are buying every piece of fruit they can get their hands on. The problem is input costs. Even though a single plant can continue bearing fruits for up to seven years, the initial costs of the seedlings, fertilizer, and preparation of the land is too much for most farmers to be able to afford. Another issue is security. Raiding the passion fruit shamba (garden) would be a favorite pastime for school children, who I already see stealing from sugarcane fields and running alongside cane trailers pulling out as much cane as they can grab.
There is one potential solution to the funding issue. Our Network has recently started a loans committee for farmer groups, lending out up to about $400 per group with only 5% interest. It is something being implemented by the FAO. They want to use our network as a pilot program to see if it will work. What concerns me is that it will just take is one bad growing season or one slump in the market for groups to start defaulting on their loans. Regardless, the cost to start up an acre of passion fruit is also around $400, so after I’ve done a little more research on the market there’s a chance we can get somewhere with this.
Another even more promising crop that I’m already working with is the African bird’s eye chili pepper. There is a market in nearby Eldoret, where they are being flown for export to Germany. They are the spiciest little peppers anywhere, even hotter than Habernero. Just looking at them wrong will make your eyes water. Needless to say, security from thieving children is not an issue and they do a great job keeping other pests out of the shamba as well. The peppers are easy to grow, drought resistant, and supposedly can earn a farmer around $400 per month off a single acre. Some of the peppers making their way to the European market are being processed and sold for sauces and food, but they are also being exported for use as tear gas. It’s a great feeling to know that, with help from the farmers, I could assist European police with riot control, or provide the German military with an effective weapon should they get the urge to invade Poland again. After all, that’s what the Peace Corps is all about. Come to think about it I’ve found a solution for keeping children out of our passion fruit fields as well.
The way I see it though, the demand for tear gas peppers has to come from somewhere, so why not western Kenya? It’s a ton of money that both the farmers and the network needs. I’ve had a specialist for these peppers come speak to the network chairman, and I have managed to convince about ten farmers to start quarter acre test plots. If the market is as readily available and profitable as I have been told, then we are really on to something. The first harvest for these peppers will be in about five month’s time and I’ll know then if the crop is worthy of being promoted throughout the network.
Finally, there is a tree called Moringa Oleifera I am working with. Its pods and leaves are the most nutritious vegetable on the planet. It reduces blood pressure, controls diabetes, and even boosts the immune systems of people with HIV/AIDS. I’ve been mixing a spoonful of the dried leaf powder into my food everyday and feel great. Google it if you are skeptical or bored. There is an organisation nearby that sells the seeds in bulk, and I have purchased enough to make around 50 bags that the network is selling for a very low price to farmers. I’ve also created a brochure about Moringa that I am including with the seeds, and am keeping a log of all farmers who are purchasing the seeds. I am hoping a Moringa specialist will be able to come and conduct a training session on the crop. As of now there is not a huge local market for Moringa, but it does a great job targeting malnutrition and I am promoting it for household use more than anything. The Moringa foundation, where I purchased the seeds, is currently applying for a grant to being processing and selling Moringa products. If that is successful, then the market for Moringa would create another cash crop.
I've also been doing a lot of brainstorming on what I can do to help orphan children here, particularly the Wake Up Women’s group I have been working with that has been so determined to start an Orphanage. I recently visited an organisation in Kisumu called the Pamoja foundation, and I really like what they are doing. They find host families for orphan children, then monitor their care and make sure they are getting nutritious meals and are going to school. They also provide sessions for the kids on HIV/AIDS education, assertiveness training for the girls, etc. The children are taken care of all the way through secondary school, and the promising kids are even helped out with University fees. Right now it is only costing about $30 a month to sponsor each child, which is much less an orphanage would cost. With the Pamoja foundation, the host parents are part of the organisation and they attend regular meetings. They have become their own community of “Pamoja Parents” and they check up on each other and work as a team to make sure the kids are well taken care of. I really like the concept and may try to adapt the same principle to the Wake up Women’s group here in Kakamega. The most important issue for such a program to work would be a reliable and honest contact person here in Kenya, and I know I would have no problem trusting Habakkuk with that role.
An important point was brought up by my visit with Pamoja foundation. Kenya is an incredibly community-based culture. Family, friends, neighbors, and relatives all look out for each other in a big way. When a kid is sent to an orphanage, that group becomes their community. After they are finished with secondary school (which still leaves them very unlikely to find a decent job), their community is gone, and where do they turn to if they run into trouble? The more I think about it, the more I like the concept of leaving the children in the village while making sure their needs are met. I’m planning to do a little further research on how the Pamoja foundation, so stay tuned. If things fall into place in a way that might lead to a sustainable project then I may start my first fundraiser in the near future.
I haven’t even started talking about the latest updates with the Wheelchair project, HIV/AIDs education, and the community based organisation I’m working with near Eldoret, but I’ll save updates on those projects for another time. Things are going full-throttle now and I love it. I met in Eldoret this afternoon to talk with several Agronomists concerning cash crops, I have a meeting tomorrow with the CBO I’m assisting nearby, then it’s off to Webuye (the stinkiest town in the world: a raw sewage lake on one side of the road, a paper mill on the other) for a week of Peace Corps “Cross-Sector training”, whatever the heck that means. After that it’s off to Nairobi for a 4th of July party at the International School. All Americans living in Kenya are invited so that should make for a good time. I’ll give an update again when I return from Nairobi.
posted by KenyaJoe at 10:35 AM
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