Kenyan Farmer Turns a New Leaf With Moringa Plant
In a dry, rocky village of Kitui County, Kenya, Joseph Matheka has observed the rainy seasons start later and perform more poorly each year. The lack of reliable rains has made traditional crop farming difficult, leading to chronic food insecurity. But in 2010, Matheka began to turn a new leaf when he started taking part in a USAID-supported program, implemented by the U.N. World Food Program (WFP), that aims to improve food insecurity by promoting drought-tolerant farming techniques.
Thanks to the USAID-supported WFP program, Matheka’s family is one of nearly 22,000 households in Kitui County that receive cash transfers for food in exchange for work on drought-sensitive agricultural infrastructure that benefits their communities, such as improving small-scale irrigation and constructing soil and water conservation terraces. Through his participation, Matheka has learned how to harvest rainwater, how to best grow drought-tolerant crops and how to turn small-scale farming into a commercial enterprise.
Matheka used to walk seven kilometers to fetch water, but now he has a shallow well and farm pond next to his home, allowing more time to tend to his farm. Matheka still grows basic food crops, such as pigeon peas, cassava, green grams and maize for his family to consume, but the cash transfers help him buy food to supplement his harvest so that his family has enough to eat even when the rains are poor.
With the cash transfers now helping cover the costs of food for his family, Matheka is investing his own resources in moringa, a drought-tolerant plant grown for its medicinal properties. Moringa is a lucrative crop in Kenya and touted as the “secret for pain,” or siri ya maumivu in Swahili. Moringa is not only an effective pain reliever used to treat common ailments, it is also loaded with protein, iron and other nutrients, making it a popular addition in children’s food.
With 20,000 moringa plants on his six-acre piece of land, Matheka harvests the leaves and seeds, dries them in the sun and then sells them in dried leaf form or crushes them using mortar and pestle to sell in powder form. Matheka then sells sachets of moringa powder at six different markets throughout Kitui County. With his savings, Matheka has purchased two motorcycles — one to help him transport his products to markets and a second one that he leases to a driver.
Before, Matheka relied on casual labor and selling charcoal to earn $15-20 per month, but he could not accumulate any savings. Now, after his expenses, Matheka earns $60-100 per month from growing moringa and he can provide food for his seven children and aging father. “Moringa means everything to me,” Matheka says. “Moringa is my backbone. Now, my family eats three meals a day, unlike before, when we had only one sometimes. We are healthy now.”
As Matheka grows his business, he faces challenges, such as how to package and market his product and how to make processing raw materials more efficient. But he sees himself as a beacon of hope for those in his extended family and his community who want to pursue small-scale agricultural businesses.
Consecutive poor rainy seasons in 2016 and 2017 are continuing to impact food security and nutrition in Kenya. Currently, 2.6 million people are in need of urgent food assistance due to drought and 300,000 people are in need in Kitui County. But USAID and WFP are working to build the resilience of families like Matheka’s who are affected by shocks such as drought. With more than $61 million to WFP in fiscal year 2017, USAID is helping chronically food-insecure Kenyans improve their food security through drought-tolerant farming and agricultural enterprise.