Murang'a farmers practicing agro-ecology urged to embrace contract farming

Moses Kariuki, an agri-business officer under Murang’a county government addressing agroecological farmers in Maragua town.

Farmers practising agroecology in Murang’a County have been urged to engage in contract farming to cushion themselves from poor returns and losses.

The farmers who were undergoing training on agroecological farming practices were told that engaging in contracts with buyers is the only way to ensure they have a ready market and fetch higher prices for their produce.

Moses Kariuki, an agribusiness officer under Murang’a county government, told farmers that horticulture has the potential to yield high returns but that many farmers make losses due to a lack of markets.

“Vegetables, especially indigenous vegetables have an insatiable market but if you have no contract with buyers, brokers will buy it at any price,” he said.

He cited highly nutritional vegetables such as amaranth, nightshade, and cowpea leaves, which are gaining popularity in many households seeking alternatives to common vegetables.

However, he noted that individually, small-scale farmers lack the strength and quantity needed to negotiate for better prices from buyers, urging them to form common interest groups to market their produce.

Further, Kariuki urged farmers to consider adding value to their crops to expand their market from the villages.

“A kilogram of amaranth is going for Sh30 in the local market but when dried, it fetches over Sh200 in supermarkets. People have been buying your fresh produce and processing it only to make more than triple your earnings,” he said.

“Plan what crop to plant for a particular season, join groups to market your produce, add value and use social media to expose yourself,” he said during the training forum organized by the Institute of Culture and Ecology (ICE) in Maragua town on Tuesday.

Elijah Karugia, a programme officer at ICE, said the organization that has been at the forefront of championing agroecology in the country has been holding similar training forums for farmers’ groups engaging in agroecological practices.

The organization that helped draft the Murang’a Agro-ecological Policy and the Murang’a Agro-ecological Development Act 2022, making Murang’a the first county to pass laws propagating organic farming in the country also has its presence in Embu, Machakos, Tharaka Nithi and Kiambu counties.

Organically grown cabbages in a small-scale farm in Kigumo, Murang'a.

Karugia said ICE has been partnering with the county administration and other partners to connect local agro-ecological farmers to markets through digital platforms.

That, he said, will make it easier for farmers to reach buyers as more Kenyans embrace organically grown foodstuffs.

“The challenge is that we have not been able to produce sufficient volumes to sustain the available markets,” he said.

Karugia challenged farmers to work in groups to consolidate their produce which he said would make it easier to land buyers who buy in bulk.

He reiterated the need for the farmers to harvest water to ensure they engage in continuous farming throughout the year.

“Earlier on, we provided these farmers with tanks but today, we trained them how to establish water pans for irrigation”.

Jackline Wanza, a farmer from Ikundu village, said online marketing has the potential to raise her earnings as it will give her direct contact with buyers.

Wanza plants bananas, avocados, macadamia, fruit trees and sweet potatoes and keeps poultry poor prices discourage farmers.

“I recently planted sunflower but I got so disappointed because they were buying it at Sh40 per kilogramme so I kept organic chicken and fed them with it and they did so well”.

Wanza explained that when she started farming, she would lease farms and that her proceeds and funds from table banking enabled her to buy her 1.5-acre farm.