The Situation Of a Kenyan Small Scale Farmer
Two of our directors Tecla Kimaru Koller and Andreas Koller live together with family at our test farm in “Jua Kali”, approximately 18 km away from Eldoret. Eldoret is the third largest town in Kenya with a population of about 350,000 people. This region which is in the Kenya highlands is known as the “maize granary” and it lies approximately 2200 metres above the sea level.
The neighbours are all small farmers with 0.25 to 10 acres or those that have been inherited from the past with larger pieces of land with 500 – 2000 acres. Most of them can only make a very modest life out of it. The money goes to the education of the children, medical care and food. They lack capital.
A small scale farmer cannot be able to make the smallest investments or does not know how. The risk for a try is difficult to take, if incase of a failure, one looses the only thing that one has: OWN LAND.