Our Introduction to Kenyan Agriculture
By Jeff Wichtel
January 22, 2006
We’re all here! This was the first full day in Kenya for the Agricultural Team. Colleen Walton, Winston Johnson, Mary Driscoll, Daniel Scothorn, Krista Toner, Lawana Adepijou, Matt Walker, John Van Leeuwen and Jeff Wichtel arrived uneventfully at Nairobi Airport, joining Teresa and Ken Mellish, and Heather Angell. The disadvantage of an uneventful trip is that there are no good disaster stories to be told – all our flights and connections went according to plan. However, we were accompanied by an unseemly amount of luggage; of course most of the contents was not for us – with over $40,000 in pharmaceuticals, seeds and other ag-related items to be donated to the projects, we made quite a caravan going through customs. Luckily Henry was there to make it all go smoothly.
Our first day was intended to be an introduction to Kenyan agriculture. Our trusty combi drivers, Simon and Clement, drove us to Rimpa Estates, a 1000-acre beef cattle operation just outside of Nairobi. This property is managed by Nicholas and Rhona Sanayo Ole Sein. This is a large beef farm in comparison to many in Kenya – they run 400 head of cattle, mostly Simmental. The sparse grazing (it has been an extremely dry season) is shared with sheep, goats and an impressive variety of wildlife that have wandered onto the property from the nearby National Park, looking for better forage. The large numbers of ostriches, Thompson gazelle, zebra, giraffe, impala and hartebeest would, we thought, have a very detrimental effect on farm income. But Nicholas seemed surprisingly unconcerned, and pointed out that his farm has the largest population in Kenya of an endangered species of gazelle – and he was quite proud of this!
We learned of the many constraints to agriculture in this part of the world: the arid climate (they typically have rain only twice a year, and the rains have failed this past year), the low price received for market beef (about half of what is received by Canadian producers), disease (tick-borne diseases and internal parasites are a constant threat), and the risk of predators (both human and animal). They have pipes for irrigation, but have not been able to use them for some years because the illegal overuse of river water upstream has reduced the river to a completely dry gully.
We were fascinated to learn that the herds and flocks were accompanied by Maasai shepherds during the entire daylight grazing period, that they must be walked to a pond on the property at least every second day for water, and that all animals were returned to corrals near the house at night for protection. We were also interested in the tick control methods which require total immersion dipping in a pyrethrin solution every ten days.
Making a living from cattle, as Nicholas and Rhona do, is not easy in Kenya. Like many farmers in Canada, they are relatively asset rich but cash poor; clearly they put everything they have into their farm and family. All the Sanayo Ole Sein family are well-educated and, although they have little, they are managing to send their young boy to private school.
We left Rimpa Estates with a much better knowledge of the issues facing farmers in Kenya and a great respect for what this family has achieved. And we are all praying for rain – you know it is a serious drought when the Maasai are driving their herds into the city suburbs to graze vacant land, parks and cemeteries!
Dorper sheep at Rimpa Estates, grazing dry pasture with the Ngong Hills in back (featured in the movie "Out of Africa").
January 22, 2006
We’re all here! This was the first full day in Kenya for the Agricultural Team. Colleen Walton, Winston Johnson, Mary Driscoll, Daniel Scothorn, Krista Toner, Lawana Adepijou, Matt Walker, John Van Leeuwen and Jeff Wichtel arrived uneventfully at Nairobi Airport, joining Teresa and Ken Mellish, and Heather Angell. The disadvantage of an uneventful trip is that there are no good disaster stories to be told – all our flights and connections went according to plan. However, we were accompanied by an unseemly amount of luggage; of course most of the contents was not for us – with over $40,000 in pharmaceuticals, seeds and other ag-related items to be donated to the projects, we made quite a caravan going through customs. Luckily Henry was there to make it all go smoothly.
Our first day was intended to be an introduction to Kenyan agriculture. Our trusty combi drivers, Simon and Clement, drove us to Rimpa Estates, a 1000-acre beef cattle operation just outside of Nairobi. This property is managed by Nicholas and Rhona Sanayo Ole Sein. This is a large beef farm in comparison to many in Kenya – they run 400 head of cattle, mostly Simmental. The sparse grazing (it has been an extremely dry season) is shared with sheep, goats and an impressive variety of wildlife that have wandered onto the property from the nearby National Park, looking for better forage. The large numbers of ostriches, Thompson gazelle, zebra, giraffe, impala and hartebeest would, we thought, have a very detrimental effect on farm income. But Nicholas seemed surprisingly unconcerned, and pointed out that his farm has the largest population in Kenya of an endangered species of gazelle – and he was quite proud of this!
We learned of the many constraints to agriculture in this part of the world: the arid climate (they typically have rain only twice a year, and the rains have failed this past year), the low price received for market beef (about half of what is received by Canadian producers), disease (tick-borne diseases and internal parasites are a constant threat), and the risk of predators (both human and animal). They have pipes for irrigation, but have not been able to use them for some years because the illegal overuse of river water upstream has reduced the river to a completely dry gully.
We were fascinated to learn that the herds and flocks were accompanied by Maasai shepherds during the entire daylight grazing period, that they must be walked to a pond on the property at least every second day for water, and that all animals were returned to corrals near the house at night for protection. We were also interested in the tick control methods which require total immersion dipping in a pyrethrin solution every ten days.
Making a living from cattle, as Nicholas and Rhona do, is not easy in Kenya. Like many farmers in Canada, they are relatively asset rich but cash poor; clearly they put everything they have into their farm and family. All the Sanayo Ole Sein family are well-educated and, although they have little, they are managing to send their young boy to private school.
We left Rimpa Estates with a much better knowledge of the issues facing farmers in Kenya and a great respect for what this family has achieved. And we are all praying for rain – you know it is a serious drought when the Maasai are driving their herds into the city suburbs to graze vacant land, parks and cemeteries!
Dorper sheep at Rimpa Estates, grazing dry pasture with the Ngong Hills in back (featured in the movie "Out of Africa").
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