The good ‘dirt’

By Monica Soila

Agriculture is not highly regarded as viable source of financial stability, especially by the youth; who would rather hawk their papers looking for white collar jobs. For them, farming is dirty and time consuming.

Mrs. Rose Bowen however, knows how that ‘dirt’ can be fine. She is a full time farmer who says life has never been so fulfilling.

“You know most people prefer swinging on chairs in offices, while real money is on the farms”, she said

Fish pond

To be an established farmer in this region is quite expensive due to the climatic condition. One requires a lot of money to sink borehole for irrigation because of unreliable rainfall. Purchasing of farm equipments and meeting general farm maintenance expenses can also be costly. Some of these factors keep many from venturing into agriculture.

Preparing an omelette using biogas

 “This is a business like any other, you have to invest a lot of time and money so as to achieve good results”, she says.

One of her most considerable achievement was biogas installation, which cost her more than a hundred thousand shillings; but says it was so worth it. She is an all round farmer, from crops, pigs, poultry and fish. Nothing at all goes to waste, for instance she uses pig slurry in the biogas.

After less the 3 minutes

“I was spending 3000 shillings on cooking gas every two weeks, but now that’s a story of the past. I am saving a lot of money”, she adds.

Finding a ready market especially for pigs is the biggest challenge she faces.

Quails

“I know i have to start from somewhere even though it can be very slow, for now i get comfort  in the fact that pig waste will keep my biogas project going”, said Mrs. Bowen.

The county government has been on the fore front in encouraging people to venture into agricultural activities. This brings about the issue of marketing the surplus produce. If farmers are linked to markets, then farming will be everyone’s hobby; hunger and starvation will be history.