My gutsy cousin is in trouble for choosing farming over banking

Mbugua, the only son of my tough uncle called Jimmy, risks a curse. Father and son have had very tough moments since the beginning of this year. 

My uncle who recently retired from a multinational bank where he started as a teller 35 year ago can’t understand why Mbugua wants to behave like an uneducated fellow.

Uncle Jimmy wants Mbugua, a recent Bachelor of Commerce graduate from a university along Thika Road, to seek a nice job in a serious bank. He wants Mbugua to eke a living from a big bank, just like he did many years ago.

But Mbugua wants to set up a vegetable farm on land he has leased. He didn’t want to anger his father by farming on his three acres. Wisely, he wants to set the green groceries farm away from home, but nearer our local trading centre.

The demand for vegetables has hit the roof and the small-scale farmers in our location never seem to produce enough.

On the farm, he also wants to rear 50 pigs and about 300 chickens. He has already set up a two room timber house, which will serve as a store and his small office. This means he will spend most of the days on the farm with a few workers.

“What madness is this?” Uncle Jimmy yelled at him the other day when he announced his intention to relocate to his “new farm”, 3km away from home.

“I think you need a psychiatrist. How can a whole graduate start farming vegetables and pigs in the village?” Uncle Jimmy continued.

I did not understand why my uncle was so mad at the agribusiness idea. “If you are to earn a living from working with the uneducated the whole day, you wasted my money going to university. You should never have done those CPAs. Waste of money and life!” he barked oblivious of my presence.

When he turned to me and I saw his red eyes, I instantly knew the 56-year-old man had a lot of contempt for farming.

“Listen to me Mkulima,” he started. “You see, for you, you can dig up this place and farm because you don’t have any certificate that can get you a job anywhere. But for a graduate wanting to spend his days dirtying his hands on the farm? This boy has gone mad.”

“But…..eeh, but…eee I thought Mbugua has…...” I tried to explain. “He has what?” he shouted back. “He says he will earn Sh120,000 every month. He even says the worst he can get is Sh95,000. What does he want my friends to say; that I did not bring him up properly? He is putting my reputation at stake,” he concluded.

Mbugua, who had temporarily walked away from his fuming father, came back and was happy to engage him in front of me.

“Cousin, the business plan I had will be financed by a bank. It will cost Sh400,000 and we are projecting profits of between Sh95,000 and Sh120,000 after three months. Vegetables and pork are in high demand and we already have orders,” he explained.

He continued, “Dad wants me to earn Sh35,000 as a banker. This is what they are starting to pay graduates and it is a contract job,” he said.

Uncle Jimmy even fumed more when Mbugua said the profits will rise to about Sh150,000 per month when he finally signs a contract with Farmers Choice.

“Hear yourself you lost man,” Uncle Jimmy retorted with a tinge of sarcasm. “You want to earn money selling pigs. You don’t need any education to rear piglets and plant managu, murenda or terere. Leave that to Mkulima,” he said with finality.

I sat back and looked at my uncle. I realised he always supported my farming initiatives because at least I was doing something for myself since I could not be employed in a bank.

I gained courage and said, “But Uncle, there seems to be more money in Mbugua’s plan than a bank job that is paying half what he can get.”

The aging man, now contemptuously angry that we are not seeing the reason to work in a bank, gave us what he asserted was his final say on the matter.

“I want you to earn bank money, not soil money!” We dispersed in a hurry and I returned to my Mkulima Mixed Farm. I wonder what Mbugua is going to do.