Farmer who made minister take a chopper to Kuresoi

At the entrance of Jokiro farm in Kuresoi, is a medium-sized structure that looks like an abandoned house.

Some sections of the wall are covered with dry grass while others are open — hallmarks of abject poverty in the imagination of many first-time visitors to this farm.

But farm owner Joseph Rono reveals that the structure is a fodder barn.

“Do not despise my simple structure, it holds fodder worth close to Sh500,000 and can feed my cows for the next one-and-a half years,” Rono tells guests at his farm at Nyagacho village in Kuresoi, Nakuru county.

This is not an ordinary day for Rono. A helicopter is parked a few metres from his simple structure. It is the first helicopter that has ever landed in this sleepy village.

Rono is hosting, among other guests, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Felix Koskei, his Principal Secretary Cicily Kariuki and Nominated Senator Lisa Cherule.

Across from the foliage store, is Rono’s 13-acre farm where he has planted 430,000 tree seedlings. They include cyprus and fruit tree seedlings such as avocado and pears.

“Prices range between Sh10 for trees and Sh150 for the fruits seedlings,” says Rono

Beside the nursery are 11,000 two-and-a-half-year-old blue gum trees, which in another 36 months will earn Rono millions of shillings if the current market prices hold steady.

He then walks guests to his modern zero grazing unit. From his farm, his neighbours’ cattle graze freely in the open land across a barbed wire fence. But Rono has refused to choose the easy way out — he chose zero grazing and keeps 20 Freshian dairy cows.

He also plants pure sangi potatoes, whose certified seeds he obtained from Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation — formally Kenya Agricultural Research Institute.

FARMERS ARE OPPRESSED

He sells potatoes and seeds to local farmers. It is at the potato farm that National Potato Research Centre Director Jackson Kabira confirms to local farmers that indeed Rono’s seeds are certified.
To paint a picture of how much potato farmers are oppressed, they display three bags weighing 50, 100 and 200 kilogrammes.
Dubbed dusra, the 200 kilogrammes bag is a symbol of oppression of potato farmers at the hands of money-hungry middle men.
“We buy a 50-kilogramme bag of seeds at Sh3,000 yet we end up selling 200 kilogrammes of mature potatoes at Sh2,000, which is oppressive,” said Rono.
Behind his house is a hutch for his 16 rabbits, which Rono says give him Sh5,600 every week from the sale of urine at Sh200 a litre. The urine is used in the manufacture of organic manure.
All these have won Rono great admiration from his neighbours and the government.
Kariuki, the Principal Secretary, says she is impressed that Rono earns so much using simple farming methods.
“The only thing missing here is a greenhouse,” she says, adding, “I will ensure that the government delivers a greenhouse to Rono so that other farmers may be motivated to follow suit.”
Koskei, the Cabinet Secretary, described Rono as a wise farmer who has not focused on potatoes and maize only.
“We need to diversify our farming to spread risks and boost our earnings,” he says.
In honour of Rono, Koskei promised to ensure that the Molo-Oloenguruone road was repaired to ease access to markets. He also pledged to set up a milk-cooler at Keringet market to motivate farmers to embrace dairy farming.
“If only all of you learnt from your neighbour Rono, poverty would be a thing of the past in Keringet,” says Koskei.