16 Country Life in BC • February 2013 by TAMARA LEIGH NAIROBI – Harambee is a Swahili word meaning “let us all pull together” – it is the national motto of Kenya, and an apt description of the spirit that is helping Kenyan agriculture grow. In a country where the need for food security, reliable energy and rural economic development is great and government supports are few, farmers and social entre- preneurs are pulling together to find creative solutions that will meet 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 of the GDP, and employs 75 percent of working age Kenyans. Cash crops like tea, coffee and tobacco dominate exports, along with a horticulture sector that supplies roses and other flowers to European and American markets. Like many African countries, small farms dominate the agricul- ture sector. Nationally, over 80 percent of food is produced on farms of less than five acres. Most farmers grow just enough to feed their families, while those who grow 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 Kenya boomed after independence in 1963 and into the 1970s, develop- ment ground to a halt in the 80s and 90s as the government imple- ment Structural Adjustment Programs at the encouragement of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, rapidly privatizing previously regulated markets and cutting funding to programs including agricultural extension and research. “In the 90s, when the World Bank said liberalize, Kenya went overboard and liberalized every- thing,” says Rien Geuze, business development manager with the Dutch agri-development organi- zation, Agriterra. “Sometimes you need to go back to the middle and have a certain amount of agriculture policy.” The poorly sequenced decen- tralization resulted in the near- collapse of major national institu- tions including the largest dairy co-operative in the country, Kenya Co-operative Creamery. Even now, the cereals industry is struggling to find a system of marketing and governance that will work for the millions of small-scale maize growers across the country that grow Kenya’s food staple. Without a strong central direc- tion from government, Kenyan farmers are building capacity through community-level initia- tives that are addressing issues for growers, developing capacity for 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 slaughterhouse in Kiserian, one hour southwest of Nairobi. The livestock sector is sup- plied largely by the Maasai, a tribe of nomadic pastoralists who migrate throughout southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, following the rains with their cat- tle, sheep and goats. In 1981, a Kenyan agriculture driven by social entrepreneurs, co-operatives group of Maasai families formed an association and established the livestock market and slaughter- house to improve access to the Nairobi markets for their tribal group, develop relationships to ensure a constant supply of live- stock to that market, and improve slaughter practices. The livestock market provides a place where pastoralists can improve profits by selling their animals directly to customers, and the slaughterhouse provides structure and standards that pro- duce higher quality of meat with some veterinary oversight. The slaughterhouse does not buy or sell livestock; it provides a service to the small butchers and restaurants that buy live animals at the market. Meat moves from the slaughterhouse to consumers quickly. Kenyan is a “warm meat” market, so what is slaugh- tered in the morning is sold and served that evening. Thirty per- cent of the meat eaten in Nairobi comes from the plant in Kiserian. “A vibrant livestock trade maintains this town,” says Michael Kibue, the manager of the project, as we move through the crush of people and livestock in the muddy market yard. “Over two hundred thousand tradition- al Maasai families depend on this market.” Cows to kilowatts In 2005, with the town grow- ing up around them and com- plaints increasing about the slaughterhouse waste that poured down the side of a nearby hill into a nearby river, the associ- ation installed two anaerobic digesters to produce biogas. It Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator. With the Indian Ocean to its south-east, it is bordered by Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, South Sudan to the north-west, Ethiopia to the north and Somalia to the north-east. Kenya has a land area of 580,000 km 2 and a population of a little over 43 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 one of 15 journalists from around the world to participate in Exposure-4-Development, a study tour organized by Netherlands-based group, Agriterra, and the International Federation of Agriculture Journalists. Please see “Biogas” page 17 Negotiations take place in boisterous groups, jostling, laughing and chiding as they move about the market. (Tamara Leigh photos) Why wait? Enjoy life now! We are motiviated to move all inventory before February 28, 2013! SAVE NOW! NEW $ 33,988 NEW DIESEL $ 325,869 NEW $ 38,882 NEW DIESEL $ 154,333 NEW DIESEL $ 329,788 NEW DIESEL $ 160,747 PRE LOVED UNITS MAKE AN OFFER MAKE-A-DEAL! 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