KINYANJUI SAVES OMONDI

By George Olwenya
A flower that was considered as a weed is slowly transforming lives of residents of Siaya District and the larger Nyanza Province.
It all started in October 2009, when Collins Omondi Okumu visited a friend in Naivasha and found that a wild plant in his Uyemba-Ochilo village in Siaya District was actually being grown for export.
When Okumu returned from Naivasha, he decided to try his hand at it and ended up becoming the first farmer in Nyanza to grow mobydick for export.

Flower farmers Francis Ooko (left) and Boniface sodo in one of the mobydick farms in Siaya District. [PICTURE: GEORGE OLWENYA]

Okumu’s Ochilo Wonderland farm soon started attracting farmers from Nyanza and Western provinces who wanted to learn about the cash crop.
One such farmer, Stephen Ooko now exports 10,000 flowers to the Netherlands a week.
"I have a three-acre farm in Siaya and I have received about Sh3 million between September, last year, and March, from export of mobydick to Europe," he says.
He says when the demand for flowers is high he is forced to travel to Kilgoris where he buys from the local farmers.
He says the region now exports between 30,000 to 50,000 mobydick flowers every week. Similarly, middlemen in the flower industry have also invaded Nyanza as only a few farmers have connections with the European market. He says apart from Siaya, mobydick farming is also thriving in Oyugis, Kendu Bay, Ahero and Kilgoris.
Weather conditions
In Siaya, over 100 farmers have stopped growing cotton as a cash crop and turned to mobydick, which now covers more than 60 acres of farmland.
Many of the farmers, however, are unaware of the challenges of exporting flowers to Europe, especially its strict quality restrictions.
Last year, many of them suffered huge loses for lack of market following adverse cold weather conditions in Europe, while others have seen their consignments land in the hands of unscrupulous middlemen and exporters. But a good number are doing well and that is why you will see cartons of mobydick destined for The Netherlands leaving Siaya every week for the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.
Some of the successful farmers say they deliver the product within 24 hours, while it takes two days for the auction and the money sent to them.
Last month he says brokers from Nairobi had flocked parts of South Nyanza as the flowers were in high demand, with Easter holidays approaching. The farmers say the danger of dealing with brokers is that one is likely to be short-changed and they prefer dealing directly with an exporter.
"When you deal with a licensed importer in Europe, you will know how much your flowers fetched at the auction and what is due to you," says Ooko.
A retired veterinary surgeon Boniface Okumu Osodo, now a farmer in Karapul, in the outskirts of Siaya town, says he uses the Internet to source for customers.
Osodo says the customers abroad are indeed the importers and it is through the assistance of the District Business Solution Centre at the Kenya Industrial Estates in Siaya that most local farmers communicate through e-mail with the importers for orders.
After realising that they were being exploited, Osodo says they had to form an association of mobydick flower farmers.
He says many farmers went into mobydick farming without knowing the agronomical practices and the export market intrigues.
"One should know the time of planting which must be determined by the market in Europe," states Osodo.
"January, February, March and April are the months that one must harvest because the market is ready abroad," adds Osodo. "We have told our farmers to learn from those who have been doing it right because these flowers have no local market and Europe is the only destination."
A flower, he says, must also adhere to the calendar that coincides with the Valentines Day, Easter holidays and Christmas.
Freight charges
Osodo says the stems of mobydick have to look healthy. "The farm must be free of fungi and insects. This can be achieved through spraying at least once a week," he adds.
The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service has been keeping an eye on the business and advising farmers.
For the flower to get into the European market, the stems have to be clean with the best grade having five bolls and four bolls for grade two.
The stems of the flowers are also measured at 72cm for grade one and 62cm for the second grade. It is the first harvest that yields the best quality and if the farm is not well managed, quality falls.
Successful farmers say the trick is maintaining the quality. "One can harvest many flowers but end up with nothing because if the poor quality lands in Europe, then you are charged with dumping," warns Osodo.
Despite the hurdles, Osodo says they have ways of getting their produce into the market.
After harvesting, farmers bring their flowers for packaging in a building rented at the Kenya Industrial Estates in Siaya town.
This is after they have gotten in touch with importers in The Netherlands through the Internet.
Because they do not have any other means, flowers are transported through country buses, which charge Sh50 per carton.
Once in the Country Bus station in Nairobi, they are taken to JKIA and left in the hands of cargo handlers who are also responsible for delivering of the consignments to their destinations in The Netherlands.
Many of the small-scale farmers are not doing badly and can earn up to Sh140, 000 on a good day in The Netherlands.
Osodo and Ooko, however, say 60 per cent of their earnings settle freight charges.
 

 

By George Olwenya
"I cannot believe, I had been uprooting and throwing money from my farm," says Collins Omondi Okumu.
For years, Okumu regarded a plant on his farm as weed. Due to the nuisance of the ‘weed’, he even neglected his farm.
However, a trip to Gilgil and work as a manager at a flower farm and eventual displacement, he says, opened his eyes to the wealth in his village in Alego, Siaya.
"When I arrived in Gilgil, I was shocked people spent so much money tending to ‘weeds’," he says.
Okumu, 40, asked one of the farmers Agnes Kinyanjui why she was growing weeds on her farm.
"She was shocked at my question. She told me, ‘young man, this is money, I am about to harvest and sell them abroad’.
"I told her I had the same plants on my farm at Uyemba-Ochilo, Siaya District, but I considered them weed. Agnes was lost for words," he says.
That was October last year. Okumu invited Agnes to Siaya to confirm his story.

Collins Omondi on his farm in Alego, Siaya. Photo: James Keyi/Standard

"Agnes came in December and was impressed that she took back with her samples of soil, which she later called to confirm was the right soil for the flowers," he says. Soon after, Okumu started preparing his farm.
"We contacted Agnes and told her we were ready to start and I paid her Sh26,000 for the seedlings which she delivered at once", he says.
Four months later, Okumu says he is about to strike gold and could be the first farmer from his village to venture into flower farming.
His one-acre farm is named ‘Ochilo Wonderland Farm’ and has employed over 50 people. Each of the casuals takes home about Sh150.
The first pick will be next month.
"I hope to make Sh10 million this year", says Okumu.
Besides making money, he plans to be a major employer.
"Packaging will be done at the farm. I will engage youth and women," he says.
Okumu says soils in Nyanza are favourable for flower farming and urges more people to take up the business.
"The cost of flower farming is also lower since we do not need to apply many chemicals to boost growth, he says.
Okumu says though he would never wish to see a repeat, the post-election violence that rocked the country was a blessing in disguise.
He was displaced at Naivasha and forced to return home.
His farm manager, Mr Charles Omondi Owino was also displaced from Limuru.
"Initially, the work was challenging because we needed to prepare the land and put up the irrigation system by installing pipes," he says.
Okumu also says initial cost was high because he bought fertiliser and other farm in-puts.
He says he has ready market abroad for the flowers.
"Netherlands is one of the markets. Three exporters have been at my farm seeking a deal," says Okumu.
He plans to increase the size of his farm to six acres.
International market Okumu has urged locals to take up flower farming to fight poverty.
"Kisumu Airport is being upgraded to international status and this could be the gate-way for flower export," he says.
Okumu says the Mobidick type of flower, on his farm is new in the market, adding: "It is a summer flower but here in Siaya it is a weed."
The flower is known in Dholuo as obwo. The weed has a medicinal value and is used to treat colds among children.
He says there is high demand for it in the international market because the production is low.
Besides flowers, Okumu plants vegetables and pepper.
Okumu went to Upanda Primary School in South Alego before joining Maranda High School in Bondo in 1984, and later started work as an untrained teacher in 1988.
He joined Kamwenja Teachers Training College in Nyeri and trained as a PI teacher. He taught in several primary schools until 1999 when he joined the private sector as a teacher.
Okumu owns the Precious Gift Schools in Nairobi.
The farm manager who had worked for Tropi-Flora Flower Company in Limuru for two years before post- election violence, says he was surprised flowers could do better in Nyanza.
Owino, 28, worked in Limuru as a casual labourer – spraying, weeding and planting.
"After the violence I returned home. Okumu said he wanted to do flower farming and employed me because of my skills," he says Owino.
As the manager of Ochilo Wonderland Farm, Owino is happy he no longer pays rent or fare to work.
"I can now support my family and parents," he says.
He says in Limuru, three farmers share an acre for flower farming due to scarcity of land, but in Nyanza idle land could be turned into flower farms.
"I wish other people could visit and see the wonders we are doing here and learn something", says Owino.