Kibwezi Horticultural Farmers’ Association (KHOFA)

Supporting Farmers To Be Economically Empowered

A Business Initiative of Shalom Interventions (K) in Partnership with Farmers and Investors

Background information

Makueni District is one of the 13 districts in Eastern Province.  It borders Taita Taveta district to the South, Machakos district to the North, Kitui to the East, Kajiado district to the West. It lies between latitude 1⁰ 35’ South and longitude 37⁰ 10’ East and 38⁰ 30’ East.

The district covers an area of 7,440 Km² and has seventeen Divisions namely: Wote, Kanthonzweni, Kalawa, Kaiti, Mbitini, Kilome, Kasikeu, Mbooni, Tulimani, Matiliku, Kibwezi, Kisau, Makindu, Kilungu, Nguu, Kee and Mtito Andei. The table below shows the number of households, area and population at divisional level as per 1999 census report.

Table 1:  Households, Area (Km²⁾ and Population Based On The 1999 Population And Housing Census 1999

Source: Makueni District Statistics Office, 28^th January 2004.

Wote town, which is the District Headquarters, is situated 150 kms South East of Nairobi city. Mtito Andei town, which is the last town, is situated approximately 250 kms from Nairobi and 250 kms from Mombasa.

According to the projection based on the 1999 national population census, Makueni District has a population of 912,691(2005 estimates)[1] people. Majority of which are children and women. More than 60% of the population consists of children and the youth of 0-19 years. This scenario increases the dependency ratio[2]. The major ethnic group the Kamba are of the Bantu origin. Most of the people are small-scale farmers practicing both livestock and crop production. Among the residents of the District are the Christians, Muslims and a few traditional followers although the majority are Christians.

Like any other traditional African society the residents of Kibwezi have deep routed cultural beliefs and practices. Decision-making, leadership and property ownership is largely left to the men. Most of the Kamba community members have a sedentary way of life in simple mud-walled and grass thatched houses. According to (Welfare Monitoring Survey II) WMSII done in 1997, the incidence of overall national poverty was estimated at 43% of the total Kenya population, of which 53% and 51% (overall and food poverty respectively) for the rural ASAL region and 29% for the urban slums. At the national level the monthly food poverty line for adults is drawn at Kshs. 702.99 and 978.27 in rural and urban areas respectively and the monthly absolute poverty line is drawn at Kshs. 874.72 and Kshs. 1,489.63 for rural and urban areas respectively.

Makueni District residents are some of the poorest persons in Kenya with 75% of total population (912,691) as they are living below the poverty line, the majority being women and the unemployed youth. The causes of poverty are varied and complex and intricately tied with issues of environment, health, education, agriculture, unemployment, illness and others, and the poor performance of major sectors of the district economy. However the latest estimates by CBS/ILRI (2002) show that Makueni District population absolute poverty is 73%.

Problem Description

The larger Kibwezi covers three divisions namely Makindu, Kibwezi and Mtito Andei. Like the other parts of Makueni, Kibwezi experiences a defined drought and famine cycle of three to five years and a major one after every ten years. This is the single most interruption of livelihood in the area because in most cases, it leads to sell of both productive assets and depletion of the little savings the farmers could have made.  This leads to what has now come to be referred to as the vicious cycle of poverty in Kibwezi.

In response, interventions by the different players including the local government, UN and NGOs has focused on giving the local community relief food. The local political leaders often capitalize on this unfortunate situation by soliciting for relief food for the affected community as political favors rather than helping them to come out of this vicious cycle of poverty.

In trying to break out from this cycle, several farmers along the main rivers that traverse the area have been engaged in horticultural farming. However, they have in the past faced two main challenges: 1) lack of initial capital and technical expertise for developing horticultural enterprises and 2). Organized marketing of the horticultural produce. The latter problem has been resolved by construction of a cold chain storage room in Kibwezi and introduction of a marketing organization that buys and collects the produce from the farmers. Limited financial outlay and expertise is currently the main challenge in horticultural farming in Kibwezi.

The paradox: famine amidst plenty!

Kibwezi area is marked with permanent rivers that flow from the Chyullu hills. These are

Kiboko, Makindu, Kibwezi, Thange, Kambu and Mtito Andei rivers. In addition, the Athi River, a more permanent and bigger river serves as the lower boundary of the district.  The area has, in addition, many valleys, streams and gorges that can be used for harvesting of surface run off, construction of earth pans/dams and sub-surface dams.

Most of the farmers in Kibwezi have expansive land resource of sandy loams that are generally flat for irrigation by gravity systems. The virgin soils are not over exploited and in many cases will produce good crop without much need of fertilizers.

The hot climate serves as a blessing in disguise. It serves as a deterrent to common diseases that often affect horticultural crops. Secondly, the hot climate hastens growth and ripening of fruits and vegetables and giving then the right color.

Kibwezi is traversed by the main highway (Mombassa -Nairobi highway) and the railway line and therefore transportation of farm produce to market is never a problem. The inexhaustible market for fruits and vegetables particularly in the EU and Asian countries guarantees market for the horticultural produce as long as they meet the market standards.

Existence of both research and University institutions in the area increases the opportunities for farmers’ accessing timely and relevant farming skills and technology. These are Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) at Kiboko and Masongaleni, Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI) at Kibwezi, University of Nairobi Dry land Research Institute at Kisayani, Kenya Medical research Institute (KEMRI) at Kibwezi & Masongaleni and Tana and Athi Rivr Development Authority (TARDA) at Kibwezi & Emali. A local community owned and managed FM radio (Mang’elete FM 89.1) offers a perfect opportunity for collaborating with these institutions to disseminate extension and education information to farmers.

Kibwezi Horticultural Farmers’ Association (KHOFA)

KHOFA is an initiative by Shalom Interventions Kenya (SIK) to economically empower horticultural farmers in Kibwezi by supporting them in production and marketing of horticultural products. KHOFA is a conglomeration if several horticultural groups from these three divisions that are involved in production of horticultural crops along Kiboko, Makindu, Kibwezi, Athi and Mtitio Andei rivers. This initiative aims at linking investors, groups of farmers and SIK for joint investment venture.

Individual or Group Investors

 Interested investors, an individual or group, will provide the initial financial capital for purchasing the farm inputs such as seeds, pesticides, tools such as sprays, small scale irrigation systems and technical expertise to produce agreed horticultural crops. Different crops have different profit margins. For instance, the table below provides a regime for different crops as per the established production records:

NB.

1.      These rates assume initial fixed production costs such as a irrigation equipments have been established and that the quoted costs are basically the routine costs of inputs, irrigation, pesticides and technical support

2.      These calculations are based on average and the actual could vary from these estimates depending on other factors beyond the farmers’ control.

Based on the crop regime above, supporting a group of 10-20 farmers to develop 10 acres of okra would require ksh 125,000/= ($2205) to produce sales of 600,000/= ($US 8,823 and generate a profit of 475,000/= ($US6985) in 1¹/₂ to 3 months.  The investor would earn 50% of the profit ($US3493), the farmer group will receive 30% ($US2095), and Shalom Interventions will receive the remaining 20% ($US1397) as the cost of providing technical and managerial support. In one year, the investor will have invested a one off investment of $U2205 and earned a profit of $US 5152 plus initial capital of $US2205 assuming four productions per year.

Re-investment of the same amount for another period of 3 months would earn the investor same amount. In one year, the same investment could be re-invested with the same farmers 4 times earning the investor a total profit of $US 5152 (>100% returns). The community will have earned $US 8382, per year (ksh 569,976 per year equivalent to 47,498/= per month per group of 10-20 which would translate to 4,500 to 23700/= per month per farmer. SIK will received $US 5588 (379984/= per year) from one group. The profits for the community will cater for their labor and land while Shalom’s will cater for the costs of extension and management and office services. The same can be used to extrapolate using different crop regimes. It should be noted that it may not be wisdom to grow one type of crop in 10 acres. Rather, rotation is recommended as one way of disease control hence the profit margins will vary. 

Farmer Groups Group

SIK will mobilize the group members to promote governance by ensuring accountable leadership structures are instituted. The group members will provide the land for irrigated farming, casual labor needed for land preparation, production and harvesting. SIK will us the concept of peer pressure to ensure members hold each accountable. Each group will have account through which all their payments will be channeled.

Shalom Interventions (SIK)

SIK will provide the management and technical support on the ground. The director of SIK and the Field Coordinators will work together to safeguard the investors’ interests as well as that of the farmers. SIK will constantly monitor the market for the different horticultural products and advice the investors and farmers accordingly. SIK will ensure appropriate linkages with the research and University institutions for continued support of this initiative though transfer of appropriate technology.

Management Structure

SIK has a National Director and field Coordinator who are full time staff of SIK. There is an office in Mtito Andei for coordination of all the farming activities. SIK has an existing agreement with Vegecare Horticultural Company Ltd that is involved in marketing of farm produce in many parts of Makueni.

Monitoring and evaluation

The SIK Director and Field Coordinator will monitor the contracted farmers’ groups to ensure that they follow the agreed production schedules and regimes. In addition SIK will work closely with the marketing agency to monitor farmers’ production for maximization. SIk will also follow up with the marketing agency to ensure that all the produce of good quality is delivered to the marketing agency while that of low quality is dispatched to the local market appropriately

Budget

Based on the table provide above, the basic investment budget will range from $US 8820 to $US 20588 per year per investor. Mostly, this will depend on the crop regime used and market demand too. This will further be determined by how many groups an investor is willing to support at any one given time and the actual number of acres developed.