The most stressful time for any farmer is the planting season. Watching rain pouring relentlessly on a prepared field that has not been sown is a depressing feeling. It gets more pronounced when organized farmers who planted in time look at you in pity. Around the village shopping centre are many braggarts reminding anyone who cares to listen that they were done and planted two weeks ago. The cynical grannies weigh in, predicting hunger. On a really bad day, a relative from city will be found delivering a free lecture on why villagers should get off maize dependency and look to export crops. Unsolicited advice is an occupational hazard in the farming business.
When long rains start, the demand for seed and fertilizer always outstrips the supply. The desperation increases as the weeks fly by enough to raise government attention. The ministry offers a reassurance that the government is aware of the distress farmers are going through during these trying times. But to stay calm as cheaper fertilizer is on the way. When the government talks of farmers, it usually means people with large acreages that are capable of supplying maize to the cereals board. The regular subsistence farmer, recycling crop on a depleted one acre plot has to be a little more resourceful if they hope to have food at the end of the season.
Certified seed and farm inputs have become major cause for concern lately in my part of the woods. In the old days, farmers produced and stored their own seed. In fact in those days farming was not a profession. It was a way of life. Most people took the trouble to grow their own food. My grandmother retained good strains of seed stock through the years and always saved some for the new planting season. They did not need manufactured fertilizer as they perpetually produced farm yard manure. They cultivated by shifting land and the grounds always had time to replenish.
New generation subsistence farmers of my variety have little patience for natural processes. We only have one mantra, high yield. Therefore we abandoned traditional genetic stock for high yielding new varieties that come with a whole range of accompanying inputs.With proper seeds and a green house, I should have been on my way to tidy profits. But typically of any quick-riches scheme, many fail to read the fine print. The seed manufacturers and their sales men always promise high yields as long as you use the recommended fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides that are available at premier prices. When the same process is applied to the sole piece of family land over many years, the soils get depleted and the returns diminish. Pests develop resistance, which calls for harsher treatment or whatever new remedy the field experts propose. The following season, the fields are roused with more fertilizer and a new improved variety that guarantees high yields. The costs of farm inputs to achieve these aims eventually prove prohibitive for the small scale farmer.
I belong to a grain farmers’ cooperative in Yala town in Siaya County that insists that farm inputs must be sold with certified seed. The cooperative knows whats good for us and as grain farmers we must compile or lose out on the benefits of association. The combined cost is out of reach for most of the membership. The options are to hang around for a government subsidy or return to the open market to buy the quantities you can afford.
Our indigenous seed supply is disappearing at an alarming rate and many farmers are slowly finding themselves ensnared by tough restrictions of multinational agribusiness corporations controlling the seed supply. At this rate, only those who can afford the inputs will be allowed to grow food and that is a very scary prospect.
Image sources:
curtisresearch.org
goodreads.com
Even the subsistence farmer needs to enjoy the benefits from government supplies. However, we live in a beautiful country in which very ugly souls push the buttons, so its every farmer for himself and God for us all.
This site (http://www.alternet.org/) has been running critical articles on big agro for a while, seems seeds are big business and the farmers are their unwitting pawns (http://www.alternet.org/food/monsantos-earnings-nearly-double-they-create-farming-monopoly).
Thanks I know Alternet as a good source for thought provoking pieces. Seeds area big deal and multinationals are making no qualms about cornering the market. Thanks for share. Quite useful.
OP this is indeed scary, most of us rarely pay attention to where our food originates but to be held ransom over seeds is worse than genocide. Its bad enough that we have no idea who is benefitting from our carbon credits and pretty soon we will not afford our own water and pay a levy for the air we breathe despite generating it. Thanks for bringing this sbubject to light
Anybody who eats Kenyan produce should explore this topic quite seriously
http://occupy-monsanto.com/march-against-monsanto-may-25-2013/This is a Call to
Action for a Non-Hierarchical Occupation of Monsanto Everywhere
Whether you like it or not, chances are Monsanto contaminated the food you ate today with chemicals and unlabeled GMOs. Monsanto controls much of the world’s food supply at the expense of food democracy worldwide. This site is dedicated to empowering citizens of the world to take action against Monsanto & it’s enablers like the FDA, USDA, EPA, GMA, BIO, and the processed food companies that use Monsanto’s products.
We urge you to help organize and attend the closest March Against Monsanto taking place on Saturday, May 25, 2013!
For all those who want to continue enjoying Kenyan produce
http://occupy-monsanto.com/march-against-monsanto-may-25-2013/
This is a Call to Action for a Non-Hierarchical Occupation of Monsanto Everywhere
Whether you like it or not, chances are Monsanto contaminated the food you ate today with chemicals and unlabeled GMOs. Monsanto controls much of the world’s food supply at the expense of food democracy worldwide. This site is dedicated to empowering citizens of the world to take action against Monsanto & it’s enablers like the FDA, USDA, EPA, GMA, BIO, and the processed food companies that use Monsanto’s products.
We urge you to help organize and attend the closest March Against Monsanto taking place on Saturday, May 25, 2013!
Congratulations on a great idea to write this post.
Hey! Glad you wrote about this. There’s an online petition you can sign to get the seeds back 🙂
http://www.avaaz.org/en/monsanto_vs_mother_earth_rb/?bpVzsab&v=24033
I am aware of it. I hope more people can sign up. The hunger politics are real.
Me think capitalism will be the undoing of our generation. Every sector seems to thrive on protecting their turfs and maximising returns. Cartels are nowadays a bona fide form of business organization. They are found in the health sector where pharmaceuticals are keen to protect their findings and would secretely wish ( and even fund) for an epidemic so they can make a kill. Hackers work on both side of the divide, creating virus and corresponding anti virurs to remain relevant in the ICT industry. Anything which man can manipulate for his own good, likely he will. Who says the farmer (read OP) is innocent? Their mantra is ‘high yield’….regardless. We cannot use moral rules to judge capitalism, as it is not a crime. We can only hope to extol our humane virtues even as we conduct our businesses. Who knows whether those advocating for action against seed cartels are not funded by the competitor? (food for thought)
You make a strong argument Lucia however farmers in my part of woods at least are holding the short end of the stick in this regard. The consequences are real as food is scarce and all farmers at this small level are doing is fighting for survival in a changing capitalistic environment that reduces them to customers as opposed to producers. Seed monopolies are embroiled in controversies and we only have to look at Western world and the growing movement around GMO food and health concerns. That capitalistic monopoly model may work in an environment where farmers have some level of organisation and a voice to protect thier interests. When a grandma who is solely dependent on her one acre plot cannot afford to grow her own food because she cannot afford input that leaves millions at the mercy of capitalism greed where the only consideration is a rising bottom line at all costs. Alternative systems have to be considered even as we accept the reality of capitalism.Our rural community have survived this long because they employed a sustainable agricultural system and at heart of this sustainability was their control of their seed stock passed down over generations and that knowledge should not be cast aside for the short term gains of ‘high yielding seeds’. That is my experience.
OP you make very good points. I didn’t know the seed and fertilizer business has become another “oil” cartel. I grew up in the country side and remember my mum selecting maize from the harvest to use as seeds in the next season. Today, we have to buy seeds to plant on the same farm, luckily we can afford the inputs , but most of our neighbors are not in a similar position. Its a sad state of affairs, that if ignored we shall edge out people who depend wholly on farming.
Thanks for taking time Wanjiku. The seed situation is worrying. In the west, small scale farmers are organizing and preserving their genetic stock. Check out the slow movement http://www.slowmovement.com/connect-food.php
Hopefully, the same initiatives will sprout in these parts soon enough.
Hi,
I’ve just read the current issue of Nakumatt’s Smarlife and your article on God Made a Farmer made my day. I am employed but on my off days and weekends I normally don the gumboots/gloves and sunhat and get down at the shamba. I just love it.
Sowing, watering and watching the plants grow to maturity gives me a lot of satisfaction. I started it out as a hobby but now I have some surpluses (veggies) which I deliver to nearby market. My family are starting to understand this ‘hobby’ but my friends think am losing it.
Glad to know that there are others out there who share the sentiments!
Regards
You are most welcome. Ignore the naysayers. Farming is a whole round wholesome experience. Those who know, know. Keep digging.