{"id":41816,"date":"2022-07-02T14:21:14","date_gmt":"2022-07-02T14:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/07\/02\/migori-tobacco-farmer-shifts-to-profitable-food-crops-kenya-news-agency\/"},"modified":"2022-07-02T14:21:22","modified_gmt":"2022-07-02T14:21:22","slug":"migori-tobacco-farmer-shifts-to-profitable-food-crops-kenya-news-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/07\/02\/migori-tobacco-farmer-shifts-to-profitable-food-crops-kenya-news-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"Migori tobacco farmer shifts to profitable food crops \u2013 Kenya News Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

When we visited a 45-year-old Michael Okong\u2019o at his rural home in Gogo village, West Kanyamkago Ward, Uriri Sub-county of Migori County, the healthy green crops were all we could see.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was difficult to tell the poor climatic conditions of the area as most of the land is surrounded by rock boulders.<\/span><\/p>\n

Okong\u2019o\u2019s home, sits at the boundary between Uriri and Nyatike Sub County, an area perceived to be an Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL).<\/span><\/p>\n

This is why Nyatike region’s surrounding environment has the same climatic conditions as Nyatike, which receives very little annual rainfall. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Okong\u2019o narrates that his determination to grow food crops made him do all that it takes, which is depicted in green farms immersed in fresh vegetables and maize.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis area is very hot and as you can see three quarters of my farmlands is rocky. But I am doing what I always wanted,\u201d narrates Okong\u2019o as he takes shot strides inside his vegetable farm.<\/span><\/p>\n

The polygamous father with many children is one of few farmers who has abandoned tobacco farming to pursue full-time food crop cultivation after having grown the plant for many years.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was due in part to the low profits made from tobacco sales despite the high cost of production and the health hazards that the crop presents to its farmers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Having given up on tobacco farming, Okong\u2019o narrates how he contemplated on whether he should join sugarcane farming. Okong’o was well aware of the difficulties that sugarcane growers face when requesting payment from the millers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter quitting tobacco growing, I almost ventured into cane growing. But I changed my mind because I had heard lots of complaints from growers on delayed payments,\u201d he explained.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nyatike borders the semi-arid area of Nyatike. Growing food crops in Gogo proved difficult because rains can be unpredictable.<\/span><\/p>\n

When \u2018Ripple Effect\u2019, a non-government organization, formerly \u2018Send a Cow\u2019 (SAC) came into Migori County to train farmers on new farming methods, Okong\u2019o embraced the idea.<\/span><\/p>\n

He narrates how the organisation\u2019s idea was timely and coincidental to his desires. \u201cWhen the SAC came, few people were reluctant to join. For me I wanted to know how to farm here on my land and that is what they provided,\u201d he shared.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since then, the group has been informing farmers in Migori County about how important it is to adapt to new farming techniques.<\/span><\/p>\n

The organization advocates for healthy farming, free of the use agrochemicals and fertilizers, to maximize yields.<\/span><\/p>\n

After learning the new farming skills from them, it was all smiles for Okong\u2019o and his family, as they could now reap big from their sweat.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThrough trainings, I decided to practice the ideas here in my home since I had no any other land,\u201d said Okong\u2019o.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although it takes more than training alone, as most of the work I do myself like organising my farm and planting,\u201d continued Okong\u2019o as he goes round a water pond.<\/span><\/p>\n

Okong\u2019o\u2019s one acre farm has 20 different crops that include fruits and vegetables besides poultry, goats and cows.<\/span><\/p>\n

He notes that the scientific crop method \u00a0such as Keyhole, Aerial, Trench and Mandala gardening, is the reason he has managed to have a lot of crops in a limited space of land<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, the gardening\u00a0techniques also conserve crop water and moisture usage, increase crop production and utilise better plant nutrients. He has created a pond to collect rain water and use it to water crops.<\/span><\/p>\n

The farmer says that he uses organic fertilizer obtained from his composite pit, liquid organic manure for top dressing and the \u201cPlant Tea\u201d that acts both as pesticide and insecticide.<\/span><\/p>\n

Okong\u2019o says that organic farming has enabled him to reduce the expenses that he previously incurred in purchasing inorganic fertilizer and pesticides from shops.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI make liquid manure by putting fresh cow dung in a bucket with fresh water to liquefy for 14 days in order to produce the necessary nitrogen for crop top dressing,\u201d explained Okong\u2019o.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI also use\u00a0Plant Tea<\/em>\u00a0pesticide, which is made from a concoction of different plant and vegetable leafs mixed together with water for a period of 10 days,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Different vegetable and plant leaves are used to ensure that rodents and other destructive insects can be killed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Being in a farmers\u2019 group has sharpened his skills in crop and animal husbandry and economically from the services and grants that groups get from NGO partners and the County government.<\/span><\/p>\n

From the sale of crops and vegetables, Okong\u2019o\u2019s family has bought goats, chicken and even saved some money for paying school fees.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rosemary Akinyi, Rosemary’s wife, states that they are now peaceful in their home and have stopped having small arguments about family expenditures on food.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBefore, we could not \u2018eat tobacco\u2019 with my family, we had to sell it first. But as of today, we eat these crops here before selling,\u201d she narrates as she cuts down a banana tree.<\/span><\/p>\n

They also advised those who are still committed to tobacco cultivation to consider growing food crops. This can be eaten before they sell.<\/span><\/p>\n

By George Agimba and Polycarp Okchieng<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Source: kenyanews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we visited a 45-year-old Michael Okong\u2019o at his rural home in Gogo village, West Kanyamkago Ward, Uriri Sub-county of Migori County, the healthy green crops were all we could see. It was difficult to tell the poor climatic conditions of the area as most of the land is surrounded by rock boulders. Okong\u2019o\u2019s home, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nMigori tobacco farmer shifts to profitable food crops \u2013 Kenya News Agency - African News Paper<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/07\/02\/migori-tobacco-farmer-shifts-to-profitable-food-crops-kenya-news-agency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Migori tobacco farmer shifts to profitable food crops \u2013 Kenya News Agency - African News Paper\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When we visited a 45-year-old Michael Okong\u2019o at his rural home in Gogo village, West Kanyamkago Ward, Uriri Sub-county of Migori County, the healthy green crops were all we could see. It was difficult to tell the poor climatic conditions of the area as most of the land is surrounded by rock boulders. Okong\u2019o\u2019s home, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/07\/02\/migori-tobacco-farmer-shifts-to-profitable-food-crops-kenya-news-agency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"African News Paper\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-02T14:21:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-02T14:21:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/\",\"name\":\"African News Paper\",\"description\":\"We bring Africa Closer To you\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/07\/02\/migori-tobacco-farmer-shifts-to-profitable-food-crops-kenya-news-agency\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/07\/02\/migori-tobacco-farmer-shifts-to-profitable-food-crops-kenya-news-agency\/\",\"name\":\"Migori tobacco farmer shifts to profitable food crops \\u2013 Kenya News Agency - African News Paper\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-02T14:21:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-02T14:21:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/#\/schema\/person\/19893f3a11e0429bf3219300d406960a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/07\/02\/migori-tobacco-farmer-shifts-to-profitable-food-crops-kenya-news-agency\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/07\/02\/migori-tobacco-farmer-shifts-to-profitable-food-crops-kenya-news-agency\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/07\/02\/migori-tobacco-farmer-shifts-to-profitable-food-crops-kenya-news-agency\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Migori tobacco farmer shifts to profitable food crops \\u2013 Kenya News Agency\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/#\/schema\/person\/19893f3a11e0429bf3219300d406960a\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23d29bdcdae20b5bf12dca33252ec65?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23d29bdcdae20b5bf12dca33252ec65?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/africannewspaper.net\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Migori tobacco farmer shifts to profitable food crops \u2013 Kenya News Agency - African News Paper","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/07\/02\/migori-tobacco-farmer-shifts-to-profitable-food-crops-kenya-news-agency\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Migori tobacco farmer shifts to profitable food crops \u2013 Kenya News Agency - African News Paper","og_description":"When we visited a 45-year-old Michael Okong\u2019o at his rural home in Gogo village, West Kanyamkago Ward, Uriri Sub-county of Migori County, the healthy green crops were all we could see. It was difficult to tell the poor climatic conditions of the area as most of the land is surrounded by rock boulders. Okong\u2019o\u2019s home, […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/07\/02\/migori-tobacco-farmer-shifts-to-profitable-food-crops-kenya-news-agency\/","og_site_name":"African News Paper","article_published_time":"2022-07-02T14:21:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-07-02T14:21:22+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/","name":"African News Paper","description":"We bring Africa Closer To you","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/07\/02\/migori-tobacco-farmer-shifts-to-profitable-food-crops-kenya-news-agency\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/07\/02\/migori-tobacco-farmer-shifts-to-profitable-food-crops-kenya-news-agency\/","name":"Migori tobacco farmer shifts to profitable food crops \u2013 Kenya News Agency - African News Paper","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-07-02T14:21:14+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-02T14:21:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/#\/schema\/person\/19893f3a11e0429bf3219300d406960a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/07\/02\/migori-tobacco-farmer-shifts-to-profitable-food-crops-kenya-news-agency\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/07\/02\/migori-tobacco-farmer-shifts-to-profitable-food-crops-kenya-news-agency\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/07\/02\/migori-tobacco-farmer-shifts-to-profitable-food-crops-kenya-news-agency\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Migori tobacco farmer shifts to profitable food crops \u2013 Kenya News Agency"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/#\/schema\/person\/19893f3a11e0429bf3219300d406960a","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23d29bdcdae20b5bf12dca33252ec65?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23d29bdcdae20b5bf12dca33252ec65?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/africannewspaper.net"],"url":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41816"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41816"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41817,"href":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41816\/revisions\/41817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}