By Caroline Mwendwa
Violet Kageha, a farmer from Butsotso South, Kakamega County, has demonstrated that knowledge is the key to the difference between wealth and poverty. Her quest for knowledge led her to Biovision Africa Trust’s extension officer for Kakamega County, Pamela Otieno, who introduced her to The Organic Farmer Magazine and the vast possibilities that lie in the practice of agroecology.
A walk through her farm is more like an excursion, as beautiful features of aesthetically made mandalas, and cone gardens stand tall, with layered green leafy vegetables. Beneath the curated trees planted along the slopy landscape are heaps of well-composted manure, which support her farming all year round. “I was trained on how to do proper composting using dry matter from dry plant refuse, green leaves, especially the phosphorous-laden tithonia, cow dung, and ashes, in layers, to produce highly nutritious compost manure,” she says.
The efficacy of this technology is proven by the vibrance of the vegetables in her highly diversified kitchen garden. From the vegetables and cereals, she conducts seed banking by storing the seeds of the indigenous crops safely in tightly closed glass bottles, which she sells to farmers locally,and uses the rest on her farm.
Further down the farm is a large fish pond with a capacity of 1600 fish. From the fish enterprise, Violet makes on average Ksh 60,000 per harvesting season, as she harvests the fish at 2- 3 months of age.
“Fish market is readily available. Every time I inform my neighbors that I will be harvesting fish, they flock to my homestead to buy, and not one remains. This is because there are few farmers in this region rearing fish,” she says. She sells one kilogramme of fish at Ksh 300. Violet further explains that the main cost of production in fish rearing is feed and the purchase of fingerlings. She buys pellets and supplements with edible weeds for fish that she has grown just beside the pond. Having learned about Azolla farming as a source of protein for livestock, she is currently growing azolla, and this will significantly reduce the cost of feeds.
For Violet, being informed about new technologies has saved her huge costs and made her farming experience highly rewarding. As she keeps poultry, just behind her homestead, she rears vermiworms as chicken feed, a technology she learned from TOF Magazine and set up successfully. She harvests vermijuice from the worms to use as foliar fertilizer on her vegetable garden, a practice she says keeps vegetables healthy. “I have discovered that poultry feed can easily be made at home. I feed my chicken with vermiworms and azolla,” she says, adding that she is in the process of installing a black soldier fly unit, which will be another source of feed for the poultry.
Violet’s enterprising spirit does not end here. Three dairy cows liven her homestead Having read about Super Napier grass from TOF Magazine, she has planted this highly nutritious grass to feed the cows, and multiplies seeds for nearby farmers, a business that she says has boosted her income over time. Dung from the three cows feed into a bio digester, which she installed to produce biogas and biofertilizer.
Value addition
Having learnt value addition for higher profits, Violet has a solar dryer, which she uses to dry sweet potatoes and vegetables. From sweet potatoes, she makes her own flour, which she fortifies with wheat to make pastries such as mandazi. She sells some of the flour. “The distinct savory taste of mandazi made from sweet potato flower makes them highly marketable, as there is no added sugar in them, making them a preferable choice, especially for the health-conscious consumers,” she says.
The dried vegetables, on the other hand, are a smart way to conserve vegetables. When vegetables are scarce, families rely on these dried vegetables, as they have a longer shelf life and their nutrients are not affected by drying. “Once dipped in cold water, the dried vegetables return to their original state, fresh and easy to cook, and the taste is not distinguishable,” she says. Dried vegetables are gaining popularity among consumers, particularly in urban areas.
Conclusion
Knowledge has transformed the life of this small-scale farmer, and her willingness to try out new ideas has led her to income-generating activities and cost-cutting methods in farming. “I am constantly training interested farmers on how to innovatively make use of what they have to make money,” she says.