Veggie plots give new lease of life to tea pluckers

The joy of every mother is to have a thriving kitchen garden dotted with healthy vegetables. Mrs Florence Achode a tea plucker at James Finlays Kenya Ltd can bear witness.

Smart Harvest finds Mrs Achode busy plucking veggies for dinner on her neat garden on a small plot behind her house in Kericho County. She grows amaranath (terere), spider plant (Saget), black nightshade (managu) and they are doing quite well.

“This vegetable garden has helped me cut my kitchen budget by more than half. Previously, I used to buy expensive vegetables in the market, which I never knew how they were grown. Now I grow these vegetables using best practice which entails using no chemicals,” says Achode.

The advantage of growing indegenous vegatables she says, is that they mature fast and are rarely affected by pests.

Additionally, they are healthier than most exotic vegetables.

“Since I started growing this vegetables and feeding my family with them, my children rarely get sick. I am told they are high in fibre, low in calories and sugar. They also boost immunity,” says Achode, a mother of three.

Just like Achode, several other families are also enjoying the benefits of having a kichen garden, which is James Finlays CSR project to give back to the community. The project was started four years ago and so far the fruits are evident. James Finlays director of corporate affairs Sammy Kirui says the company decided to allocate each of its 12,500 workforce in its estates small plots at the back of their houses to serve as kitchen gardens.

“The benefits are enormous, we have a health working staff together with their family,” says Mr Kirui.

Mrs Jedidiah Andati, who joined Finlays Tea Company 17 years ago and serves as the kitchen garden champion, says to ensure the farmers embrace best practices, the company enrols services of agronomists.

“Use of chemical fertiliser is discouraged for health reasons. Instead, experts have taught us how to make our own organic fertiliser using kitchen wastes and solid wastes from cows and chicken. On the farm, nothing goes to waste,” says Mrs Andati.

The multinational tea company advices it employees who are mainly tea pluckers to plant four main vegetables — terere, spider plant, black nightshade and cabbage.

The vegetables are rich in iron, protein, carbohydrates, fibre, ascorbic Acid, calcium, phosphorous, beta carotene, thiamine among others.