Christopher Muthama retired from his job as a driver at the University of Nairobi in December 2002.
The 71-year-old knew he had to work to earn a living. There were no much savings to enjoy and so he would have to sweat to eat. What could the father of eight do?
His Munyenze village in Kibwezi East is dry. But Muthama had a plan. He wanted to venture into agribusiness.
That was eighteen years ago. Today, Muthama is a successful farmer in the arid lands of Kibwezi in Makueni county.
He grows cassava, paw paw, pumpkins and green grams. He also keeps livestock on his 40-acre farm. Muthama has risen to his present position by dint of hard work and sheer persistence.
“We are putting a lot of effort into farming, but youths don’t seem to be interested. I farm for both food and agribusiness,” Muthama said.
He said they were moving away from planting only maize and beans as the soil was not viable.
Muthama, however, noted that locals had lots of challenges that deterred them from engaging in agriculture, despite having vast parcels of land.
The challenges included lack of water, electricity, market for produce, food processing factories and poor roads.
“This village has been neglected since Independence. The local leadership has failed us,” Muthama said.
Despite all these challenges, Muthama said he supplied the village and its neighbourhood with green grams, fruits, maize, beans, cassava and pumpkins from his farm.
Locals celebrate him for maintaining supply during the Covid-19 lockdown that hindered access to produce from other areas. They say Muthama was their hero.
Kibwezi residents depend on shallow wells and solar panels to pump water for irrigation to their farms because there are no reliable sources of water and power.
The Star established that all public dams earlier done by either the Makueni government or well-wishers were not functional. They had dried up.
Muthama has, however, constructed an 89-foot well whose waters he pumps for irrigation using solar panel power. He also has livestock that he feeds through zero-grazing. His children provide labour for both farming and livestock keeping.
“The neighbouring Kativa shopping centre has electricity because of a Safaricom mask erected nearby. Other areas like Kavatini, Yedundu, Kivumbu and Kiange also have electricity, but Munyenze is in darkness. I wonder why," he said of the lack of power in his village.
Residents have appealed to the government to provide water, electricity and build good roads. They have also asked the Makueni government to construct a factory for processing green grams in Munyenze to cut the exploitation of farmers by middlemen.
The said brokers pay farmers Sh30 per kilogramme and later sell it for Sh400, making a profit of more than 1,300 per cent.
“We need a food processing plant like Kalamba Fruit Factory and the Milk Processing Plant in Mbooni,” John Mutua said.
A solar-powered Munyenze borehole was rendered moribund after its four solar panels were stolen months ago. The project was done by the ACK through funding from the USAID.
Edited by P.O
