Boys and girls who turned stony patch into a lush vegetable farm

Beatrice Wangui and Martin Mburu at Namrata Shah Children Home’s farm in Thika. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE

What you need to know:

  • 13-year-old Lydia loves farming and she plans to engage in the venture when she grows up
  • Namrata Shah Children’s Home, which has 38 children and was started in 2003, has been producing its own food since 2012

Holding a huge leafy cabbage in her hands, young Lydia Wambui is not your typical farmer. The average age of farmers in the country is 60 years, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

But Lydia loves farming and she plans to engage in the venture when she grows up. The 13-year-old is one of the children at Namrata Shah Children’s Home in Thika practising farming.

The children are helping the institution produce its own food as they hone their farming skills.

“I like growing tomatoes and capsicum more than any other crop. I like the crops because they grow faster and one can make good money from them,” says Kelvin Muiruri, another child at the Anglican Church of Kenya-sponsored institution.

Lydia and Muiruri say they have learned how to plant different crops, take care of them and the pesticides to use under the guidance of workers at the institution.

“We do the farming in the evening after class with the guidance of teachers,” says Lydia. Josphat Murithi, the institution’s manager, says Namrata Shah gives children life-skills to excel in adulthood.

“The children grow tomatoes, cabbages, capsicum, onions, spinach, eggplant, cabbages, coriander and fruits. Tomatoes occupy the bigger part of the farm,” he says.

The food they produce plays an important role in running the home. “We often sell the surplus to maintain the farm and provide the children with personal effects especially when the donations from well-wishers have run low,” says Murithi.

The home, which has 38 children and was started in 2003, has been producing its own food since 2012.

REMOVED ROCKS

The land where the home and the farm sit was initially rocky. The management, however, rehabilitated it.

“Initially we had a small kitchen garden that could not even produce enough for our consumption. We relied on buying food, which was expensive.”

They removed rocks, flattened the mounds and bought tonnes of red fertile soil from Ngoigwa, Gatundu, at Sh30,000 to reclaim it.

“The results were encouraging. Just the other day we sold a pickup of tomatoes from this farm at Sh1,800 per crate. When demand is high, each crate goes for Sh7,000. All this is produced by the children and a few workers. Recently, our produce earned us Sh103,000,” says Murithi of the three-quarter acre farm.

Water, however, is their biggest problem.

“We dug the well last year because our French beans withered due to a dry spell.” The centre has sunk two more boreholes and hopes to go big on irrigation.

Hilda Warungu, a social worker at the home, says the children have embraced farming.

“Apart from producing our own food and selling the surplus, the children are learning various farming skills from our employees, who work with them. We don’t force them to work, but due to good relationship they have with workers, they love being in the farm,” says Hilda, adding that it is important to engage them early because they are the farmers of tomorrow.

Currently, the home sells the produce to traders from Makongeni market in Thika.

Murithi says the farm has four permanent employees. However, they hire at least 10 casuals at the time of harvesting and planting.

Stephen Njeru, a Horticultural Crop Development Authority officer, says tomatoes need enough manure and regular spraying to keep off pests and diseases.

“Tomatoes have a lifetime of two to three months if they are managed properly. It is important to control pests because they are vulnerable,” he says.

Njeru observes that engaging children in agriculture from a tender age helps them love to practice farming and build their skills.

“Children learn better when they are still young. If they realise farming pays, they will engage in it.”

Among the challenges the home faces is lack of enough water for effective irrigation, poor market of their produce and fees for post-primary students.

“We have one student in the university, two in vocational training colleges, 13 in secondary while the rest are in primary schools. We are doing a lot on the farm to maintain them in school. It is good that the children, some who are orphans, are helping us,” the manager says.