By Elcah Barasa

Agriculture is the mainstay of the Kenyan economy – about 70 percent of the entire population depends on agriculture. However, many people continue to shy away from the sector with some viewing it as a dirty enterprise with little returns despite its heavy labour demand. Students opt for other courses because they see farming as a punishment by God because in both primary and secondary schools, working on the school farm was used as a punishment for the students who erred. For Emily Ongus, what you see depends on how you view the world; to them, this is just dirt. For her, it’s a potential. 

By Elcah Barasa

Agriculture is the mainstay of the Kenyan economy – about 70 percent of the entire population depends on agriculture. However, many people continue to shy away from the sector with some viewing it as a dirty enterprise with little returns despite its heavy labour demand. Students opt for other courses because they see farming as a punishment by God because in both primary and secondary schools, working on the school farm was used as a punishment for the students who erred. For Emily Ongus, what you see depends on how you view the world; to them, this is just dirt. For her, it’s a potential. 

However, Emily got into farming by sheer chance; she was born and raised in Nairobi.   

In school, Emily like many of her friends believed the future belongs to those who excel in sciences and so worked hard in physics – she wanted to be an engineer. However, in the Kenyan system there is a way people were admitted in courses they did not even apply for. This’ how Emily found herself studying agriculture at the Egerton University – she was upset then but now she says it’s the best thing that ever happened to her. She even decided to further her studies in the same field and as I author this, she has an admission for a Masters of Sciences in plant science at the Wageningen University in the Netherlands scheduled to commence in September 2015.

I think it is her lack of exposure to agriculture as a kid that inspired her seriousness and keenness when it came to practical farming. Being a good student, she has always tried to apply her learning and studies to the world around her. She always tries to find the practical uses of her knowledge in daily routine. She wanted to expand her knowledge and so she took up a field attachment position in Kinangop – an area well known for its potato and dairy farming. From Kinagop she moved to Bungoma – popularly known as the country’s food basket for its high maize production before settling for her current assignment in Ukunda at the coast. She is a field officer in Ukunda offering extension services to coconut farmers in the region. She inspects farms to ensure farmers comply with the organic standards set by the certifying body in relation to the markets needs. She provides them support to ensure that they adhere to fair trade principles which provide a market for their coconuts. Her efforts have paid off - she has acquired agricultural skills and experience which she hopes to share during this YPARD mentoring program.

During her stint as a farmers’ helper, she has discovered lack of direct markets as a great hindrance for farmers’ success. Farmers rely on brokers and middlemen whose intervention raise prices for consumers. Farmers encounter high production costs in their efforts to boost production but hardly get fair pricing of their products from the middlemen, the bulk farm gate buyers. The real profit goes to the middlemen who buy up the farm products at almost give away prices and sell at outrageous prices to the consumers. Middlemen have discouraged genuine investors from getting into agriculture because of the marginal profit associated with it as the middle men cart away the bulk of the profits. Emily thinks activities of middlemen are a threat to food security.

Emily wants to touch lives in her work of helping farmers – help them improved productivity, increase profitability and reduce gender imbalance. Reducing gender imbalance in the society will go a long way in addressing the other challenges. Gender roles and birth order often dictate occupations and tasks undertaken by boys and girls. Women farmers suffer most compared to their male counterparts.

Being a mentee in the upcoming YPARD mentoring program, Emily is expectant. - She looks forward to enhancing her agricultural expertise, confidence, writing skills, negotiation skills, fundraising and identify opportunities to further her course in helping the small farmer. She also plans to establish long-term partnerships with fellow mentees and mentors.

Elcah Barasa is an International Relations student at the Technical University of Kenya. She keeps indigenous chicken and as a blogger, she emerged the best female blogger in YoBloco Awards by CTA in 2014." Follow her at @Elcah_barasa and https://elcah.wordpress.com/