Liberalise pyrethrum sector long suffering, farmers urge State

By KARANJA NJOROGE

A cloud of gloom hangs over pyrethrum farmers languishing in poverty due to the imminent collapse of the sector.

Farmers who would at the end of the year earn millions of shillings in bonuses are now struggling to educate their children.

Frustrated by lack of credit facilities, non-payment for deliveries, great labour requirements and expensive farm inputs, farmers in Molo, Kuresoi, West Pokot and Nyandarua have reduced the acreage under pyrethrum.

Mr John Omweri, a farmer at Nyota location, Kuresoi District, recalls with nostalgia the good old days when he had his entire 30 acre farm under pyrethrum.

Villagers, including children, would wake up early to weed, plant, prune or pick the crop.

But those days are long gone and he has been forced to reduce pyrethrum acreage in his farm to 15 acres.

“I left my ancestral home in Kisii in the 90s and settled here because of pyrethrum farming. The earnings were so good and at times I used to get a bonus of Sh400,000,” Omweri said.

A one storey building he constructed at the nearby Muchorwe trading centre with pyrethrum proceeds is evidence that the crop can transform rural livelihoods with proper management.

At the time, he would deliver more than 200 bags of dried pyrethrum to the PBK and take home thousands of shillings.

Omweri says years of mismanagement at the Pyrethrum Board of Kenya has reduced him to a low income earner living from hand to mouth.

Delayed pay

“I have not received payments for my deliveries since October last year and the situation has been getting from bad to worse,” he added.

Farmers in the area have been forced to uproot pyrethrum and plant other crops that require less labour requirements and with ready markets such as maize, cabbages and carrots.

The farmers say though they are now relying on potato and cabbage farming, they would not hesitate to return to pyrethrum if they are paid their dues regularly.

“The moment pyrethrum farmers start getting their dues regularly, you will not see us growing potatoes as it involves a lot of work and the returns are not dependable,” said Jared Onguso

Onguso said the board owes him more than Sh100,000 and he does not know when he will be paid.

Middlemen have been having a field day buying flowers from the farmers at a throw price.

“To meet our daily needs we have been selling some of the flowers to the middle men who have taken advantage of PBK’s failure to pay us,” Onguso adds.

As result of delayed payments for farmers, PBK has lost regional and international markets due to diminishing production.

Unmet demands

Nakuru County which was the leading producer of pyrethrum with 5,185 metric tonnes in 2001, has seen its production decline to a meagre 145 metric tonnes last year.

The 18 pyrethrum growing counties produced 465 metric tonnes last year as compared to 11,383 metric tonnes a decade ago.

In 1995, Kenya accounted for 91 per cent of the world pyrethrum production which has declined to a mere two per cent by last year.

Tasmania, Rwanda and China are emerging as the top producers globally with Kenya continuing to lose its grip as a major producer.

Unmet demands of Kenya pyrethrum in its largest market the United States has compelled buyers to shift to other markets.

Pyrethrum Growers Association Chairman Justus Monda says PBK was given a loan of Sh850 million by the government in 2008 purporting to have  stock of extracts valued at Sh1.2 billion.

“They purported to have stocks worth Sh1.2 billion which they were supposed to sell and repay the Sh850 million loan to the government,” he added.

He said the board lost government confidence after it later claimed the stocks had been eaten by rats and failed to repay the loan.

“How do you borrow using what you do not have as your security?” Monda posed.

Liberalisation

He said farmers want the sector liberalised to save farmers from PBK monopoly.

“Pyrethrum has to be liberalised as we are now in a liberalised economy and we cannot have the board operate as a monopoly,” Monda said.

According to Monda, the government should implement the recommendations of the task force and write off debts to the board.

Two former directors of the Board Mr Stephen Yakan and Mr Samuel Kihiu says it is wrong for the board to continue operating without representatives from the farmers.

Yakan, who represented farmers in the North Rift region, said farmers are the main stakeholders and deserve representation in the board.

“The board dismissed directors elected by farmers after we insisted that farmers should be paid their dues regularly to motivate them,” he added.

Kihiu, who represented Nakuru region, says the directors used to play a major role in articulating and defending the interests of farmers in the board.

He says the sector has huge potential to generate employment and grow the economy.

“Farmers in Pokot have reduced their acreage of the crop as they wait to see what the government will do to revive the sector,” Yakan said.