Tag: Kenya
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ASK THE WOMEN
A long time ago a client asked me to document a forestry project in the rural town of Hojancha in northern Costa Rica. I took photos of proud men standing by amazing stands of introduced eucalypts, Gmelina and teak. The trees were grown for both timber and firewood. But I learned the women weren’t too crazy about eucalypts as firewood. They said they didn’t like the smell and it made their gallo pinto taste bad. No one bothered to ask the women about their preferences before the trees were planted. That…
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A POTATO JOURNEY FROM WISCONSIN TO KENYA
I started out begrudgingly planting potatoes for a merit badge in Wisconsin. Decades later, I found myself in Kenya, watching advanced potato breeding at work. From garden patches to in vitro labs, I’ve come to appreciate the science behind every spud, and the people shaping its future.
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THEY’RE HARVESTING POTATOES IN KENYA
Potato harvesting in Kenya is being transformed through improved farming practices, including better seed selection, soil management, and access to agricultural support. These changes are helping smallholder farmers increase yields, strengthen food security, and build more resilient livelihoods in the face of climate and economic challenges across the region.
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A LIONESS ALL FOR MYSELF
It’s Sunday and I’m not working on finger millet so I took the morning off to visit the Nairobi National Park. This is almost an urban park as it is a mere 15 minutes south of Nairobi with its skyline visible from the park … and yet it truly is the home to some very wild critters who are well protected by the Kenyan National Park Service. It’s easy to spot where the lions are. Just look for the other vehicles. Everyone comes to see the lions. After entering the park…
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THE CORIOLIS EFFECT
‘How’s the weather in the southern hemisphere?’ Ben asked. We crossed the Equator just north of Kisumu so we felt obliged to get the token tourist shot. A man with a bucket and some water beckoned us over for a demonstration. We knew he was just after a few shillings but let him show us what he had. ‘You see that? That’s the Equator line,’ he said and pointed to a line made of bricks. He walked a few metres north of the line and pulled out some matchsticks for us.…
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A TALE OF TWO MARYS
Once upon a time a man married two Marys, which is something you can do in Kenya. The man passed away but his two wives, the Marys, lived on and prospered while growing finger millet. Finger millet is a traditional crop of Eastern Africa and once grew abundantly in the Western Kenya near the town of Kakamega. But in the 1990s farmers replaced it with maize. That was a pity as finger millet is incredibly nutritious, grows really well in these parts and can command about twice the price at market…
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JOY IN THE FINGER MILLET FIELD
Margaret, a progressive farmer in Kakamega County of western Kenya, suffers from diabetes. So she planted finger millet at a time when all of her neighbours planted maize. She likes the finger millet because it is high in nutritional content, is gluten free, and has a low GI. Magaret has been growing finger millet for more than a decade and reports that her diabetes is under control and she and her family are healthy thanks to regular consumption of finger millet. My colleague, Benjamin Kilian, and our finger millet pre-breeding partner,…
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UGALI AKA WIMBI
My colleague, Benjamin, and I travelled to Kenya to learn about finger millet and check up on some projects the Crop Trust is supporting. Neither of us had ever eaten finger millet so our hosts made sure we’d change that. Our hosts brought us to a small village called Ekero in Kakamega County which was supposedly famous for its barbecued goat. They ordered some goat and chicken as well as finger millet ugali. Ugali is a very stiff porridge which can be made of maize, sorghum or finger millet. You eat…
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JONAH, THE KENYAN TEA PLUCKER
It’s an all-day journey from Nairobi to Kisimu, where my colleague, Benjamin Kilian, and I will look at some finger millet pre-breeding projects. Halfway into the journey we climbed to 2400 metres on the western side of the Riff Valley and entered prime Kenyan tea country. We stretched our legs and met Jonah, a tea plucker on a massive plantation owned by Unilever. Jonah picks only the light green recent growth leaves. With all the rain the plantation has received, he’ll be back in a couple of months to pick again…
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