Tired of joblessness, woman turns a new leaf with vegetables

Having been a housewife for years, Millicent Odalo realised one day that to lead a more comfortable life, she had to think outside the box to complement her husband’s income.

That is what prompted her to start commercial vegetable farming at her three-acre farm in Lichota Kojuang, Migori County.

But like all wise women, she did not just do the traditional farming which is commonplace in the area; she started smart farming in horticulture.

In Migori County, many women run small businesses like selling greens in the market, but Odalo has embraced new ideas of farming to boost her yields.

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“I know this place very well and it is common place to see women selling small batches of vegetables here and there. It fetches them some money but I wanted to go an extra step. For that reason, I focused on large scale kale farming using modern farming methods. For instance, I do drip irrigation which helps when rains fail. I also use natural manure on my vegetables. I rear poultry so I use the droppings as manure.”

To control pests, she uses normal pesticides from the agrovets. Thanks to her modern farming methods, she harvests a significant amount of the vegetables which she sells at wholesale price.

“Business is good. I get up to Sh5,000 a day. Most of my clients come to buy at the farm. I ferry the surplus to the market,” says Ms Odalo.

 With that amount, she is able to supplement her husband’s income.

“My husband works outside the country and nowadays I can go for long without asking him for cash. The money from the vegetablefarm is able to sustain the family for a considerable period of time,” says Ms Odalo a mother of four.

Slowly her business is expanding. Together with her husband, Mr George Kijana, they have expanded the farm and have bought 15 acres to expand the venture.

Alongside vegetable farming on her three-acre land, Ms Odalo has 200 seedlings of Pixie Orange and more than 250 chicken and 15 Guinea fowls.

Future plans

In future, she plans to diversify to fruit farming focusing on pixie orange variety.

“I plan to start growing pixie oranges. I have done my research and know that it has a ready market. Most of its traders source it from Meru to meet market demand and those traders are few. I want to fill that gap,” she says.

Having seen the potential of horticulture farming, Ms Odalo is educating other local women on how to do it right.

“I want to encourage young women to venture in farming like I have started. They should not just sit and wait for money from their husbands.”

Step by step, Odalo is changing the narrative in the village that women when empowered, can change the fortunes of their families through agriculture.

In Migori County, the trend is that men own huge parcels of land while women do the toiling.

According to the World Bank, women make up 80 per cent of Kenya’s farmers. Despite their numbers, they still have many challenges to overcome, like owning land.

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