Why I will not leave my chicken for politics again

 

Political temperatures are rising in Mumias. Graffiti of political aspirants vying for seats in next year’s elections are scrawled over abandoned walls, coupled with posters bearing images of the hopefuls.

James Shitawa, a 63-year-old former councillor, says he is watching it all from a distance. He recalls a period when campaigns, politics and the power play brought him so much excitement. But not anymore. After serving people of Mumias for two terms, he downed his political tools in 2013 and picked a different set.

He is now a farmer and does not regret it. “People still approach me and tell me to go back to siasa. I say no. I am in a different field now; I am a farmer and I love it,” says Shitawa.

While politicians and aspirants make rounds in Mumias trying to woo voters, Shitawa spends his days on his farm; feeding his chicken, milking his goats, tending to his banana farm and caring for fish.

He is a mixed farmer who operates under the mantra: “Always be ready for something new” and he applies it on any project he embarks on.

Shitawa says his farming journey began as a lucky happenstance when he was a politician. He had visited his friend and while they were seated under a shed, catching up something that caught his eyes.

“My friend had a banana tree producing very fleshy fruits. It looked so exotic that I decided to ask him about it,” he says.

His friend explained to him the process of growing bananas, and where to get suckers. Right then, a seed to try out farming had been planted inside Shitawa.

Within a few days, he tilled his land and travelled to Busia where he bought 60 suckers to plant on his farm in Mumias. His life as a farmer was beginning to shape up.

Shitawa says although he was still enmeshed in politics when he started farming in 2012, he realised farming provided a sense of calmness and satisfaction that he was not getting in politics.

A few months later, he started raising traditional chicken as an addition to his farming venture. The more he picked eggs and got meat from his chicken, the more he got convinced that farming was indeed his calling.

“It became my second life, and I realised I was always researching for what I could do with this farm,” he says.

Now, five years later, he has almost 100 groilers (a cross breed between traditional chicken and broilers), goats for milk and meat and maize for sale and to feed his family.

His banana farm that marked the beginning of his farming career has also flourished, and he says he uses it to educate interested farmers on how to care for banana plantations.

“I host farming groups and school children and answer all questions they have about farming,” Shitawa says.

Stevia

“The hottest thing I have on my farm now is stevia plant,” he says with a sense of playfulness in his voice.

He says stevia is a crop grown as a sugar substitute and is especially beneficial to people suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure. Shitawa says he grows it, takes it to a collection point where farmers who grow stevia take their produce, where it is packaged and shipped abroad, while some are consumed locally.

He however notes that it has not been a smooth ride for him. Mumias has experienced droughts in the recent past, and he has watched some of his crops whither in the field.

“I had to install sprinklers because crops like bananas need a lot of water to grow,” he says.

When Shitawa opens the gate that leads to his newest project — a fish pond that he started barley six months ago — his face lights up.

“This is my new baby,” he quips. On an eighth acre farm, he has dug three fish ponds. He rears catfish in one, and two are for tilapia that he sells to locals and businesses around his farm.

“I always thought it is something complex, but I learnt it and I do everything by myself,” he says.

Shitawa says farming has served him with many lessons, gains and sometimes losses. On losses, he talks about the greenhouse project that he started but never picked up. He set it up to grow tomatoes, but a disease attacked all the crops and they died without ever producing fruits.

“Farming is almost like politics. Sometimes you lose, sometimes you win; but you learn to pick up and continue,” he says.

The biggest lesson Shitawa says he has learnt as a farmer is: “You should never be too proud to ask. Don’t feel ashamed when you don’t know something. Ask and you will learn.”

He says he got to know a lot about farming by asking other farmers who started before him.

He also attended many meetings organised by institutions such as the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and other organisations whose mandate is to teach farmers on emerging trends.

“This is far much better for me than politics,” he concludes.

The orange reflector jacket that he wears to the farm reads: Fuga. Uza. Kula (Grow. Sell. Eat), and this summarises his new life as a farmer.