We are making a tidy income from farming

Chairlady of Mavuria Women Nutribusiness Group Jane Muchungu (right) with other members. [PHOTOS: JOSEPH MUCHIRI/STANDARD].

The scorching afternoon sun beats hard in a remote village in Mbeere South, Embu County. The sun has however not dampened the spirits of an ambitious group of women from Mavuria.

With rare zeal, they go about gnawing and milling grains, chopping mangoes into small pieces, drying them and in the process adding value to many traditional high value crops.

“Before we discovered the importance of value addition, we used to sell our crops at throw away prices. Now we know that when you make a finished product it fetches better money,” the chairlady of Mavuria Women Nutribusiness Group Jane Muchungu says.

The group cultivates millet, sorghum, sweet potatoes, cowpeas beans and amaranth, which they mill to make traditional porridge flour which fetches good money.

The group, which has over 50 members, also makes crisps from mangoes, cassava and sweet potatoes which they brand and sell at the local market.

They also produce animal feeds for poultry and other domestic animals.

Their porridge, which agricultural officials describe as highly nutritious, is certified by the Kenya Bureau of Standards.

Things are looking up now, but the group had a few false starts at the beginning.

“Last year in June, a group of women farmers from the area came together and we started discussing how we would make more money from our farms. All of us have farms where we grow crops and sell in the local market. But we realised we were making little profit. Embu County Government officials met and sold to us the idea of selling our produce as a group and value addition,” she says.

To give them a boost, the county gave them a solar drier, wet mills, mills, a mixer, and beam weighing machines.

Muchungu says they were trained on value addition, packaging and marketing by One Village One Product programme in partnership with Embu County Government.

“Since that time we started doing things together and the results are impressive.”

The team has now perfected value addition which has given them a competitive edge in the market.
“Our porridge flour is popular with locals because of its high nutritive value. A mother once gave it to her baby who had stunted growth and within a month, the infant was a picture of health,” she says.

She says their product, Mamix, has also become popular among people living with HIV and the aged since it is packed with immune boosting nutrients.

The group confesses that machines have helped them a great deal.

“Previously, we used to grind flour with the stone which was slow and tiring. But the machines are faster and grind a lot,” Muchungu says.

Mbeere South crops officer, Josephine Kinoti, who has been working with the group, says the milling plant has helped increase the value of drought resistant crops like cassava.
What the women are doing has also inspired the locals who are embracing value addition.

“Many farmers here are no longer planting maize which has let them down on many occasions. They have turned to sweet potatoes, sorghum, millet and cow peas which do well even in harsh climate,” she says.

The officer advises the group which has mainly elderly members, to consider inducting youths to upscale production and marketing.

Determined as they are, the group faces some challenges, including the fact that most members are elderly.

“Most of us are elderly so we do not have that energy this job requires. We need that fresh energetic blood. We have been going around the village trying to recruit on board the young women, but most of them are reluctant to join us,” says Muchungu.

One is the water problem which forces them to irrigate their crops.

“In future, we would like to increase the volume of the products we produce and to tap into the international market,” says the chairlady.