Typically I don’t think of rain or weeds as obstacles to attendance at meetings. We made several attempts at meeting with our pilot group the past month, and after cancellations several weeks in a row due to weeding season and then to heavy downpours on our outdoor meeting place, we finally successfully met last week and it was brilliant.
We didn’t start immediately when we arrived; in fact we even had enough time for some manual labor in a farm immediately next to the grove of trees where we meet. Phyllis (the one wearing lavender), only 17 years old but a faithful member of the group, was good enough to invite us to experience the joy of weeding in her family's rice field.
Weeding has always been one of my favorite things to do. Yeah. After only a few minutes of bending over at the waist, being confused as to what was rice and what was weed, and having the equatorial sun beat down mercilessly on my back, I was delighted that the meeting under the trees would begin soon.
We sat together in a semi-circle as Michael began by leading a discussion about what we did last meeting, and then Beth jumped right into the first activity. The goal by the end of the meeting was for us and the group members to have a more organized understanding of what crops they grow in their area and for what purposes (for consumption versus for profit), and then to understand what markets their community uses, what markets are the best markets for profit, and what some of the barriers are for the community in getting their products to those good markets.
So Beth started with the crops. She asked the group to think of all the crops that their community has grown in the past 2 years and to write each of those crops on a note card. The 23 crops identified were then laid out on the ground to analyze. The group was given 20 small stones to rank the crops in 3 different categories.
First, they ranked the crops according to how much each crop is grown in the community, so they took 20 stones and placed them on the note cards to indicate how much or how little it is grown. Then they picked up the stones and rearranged them, ranking the crops according to importance for consumption. Last, they ranked the crops according to importance for profit; the group identified 11 of the 23 crops as for profit crops.
Having identified all the local crops grown for profit, we transitioned from crop analysis to market analysis. Michael passed out blank note cards again, this time having the group write down all the markets that they used in the past 2 years.
Ten markets were identified, including markets as close as the “Broker that comes to the farm” and “Neighbors,” and as far away as Nairobi (a two hour drive). The 10 note cards were laid out on the ground and the group members did two more rankings. They ranked each crop to identify where they actually sold that product. And finally they ranked each crop according to where the best market was to sell that product.
After finishing the analysis and making notes, the group talked together about the results. They were excited about having organized their knowledge as farmers and business people to understand better where they have been and what they have done in the past.
They saw huge discrepancies between where they generally go to sell their goods as opposed to where they should go for the best profit. Transportation, time, safety, brokers, and limited production (not having economies of scale) were all identified as struggles and obstacles to getting better profit and going to better markets. How could they afford to hire a pick up truck to take their produce? How would they get to Nairobi, sell their goods and return home before nightfall since the roads are so dangerous after dark? How do they deal with the broker cartels that force small scale farmers to sell at excruciatingly low prices? These and many more issues surfaced during the discussion. Yet the group also seemed to be excited about moving forward with this knowledge and these challenges to work through how to do better business in the future.
Like Michael was saying in “Part 2" (you should read it if you haven't yet!), we really are trying to begin at the beginning with this group, to walk with them to help both us and them to recognize and then to build on their abilities, talents and strengths as image bearers of God, and more specifically as savvy farmers and significant members of their community and economy. We have five steps that we are working through pole pole (slowly slowly) to eventually lead to this group doing collective farming as business. The first step, kuvumbua, “discovery,” is where we are now. It's about the group members talking about, remembering, realizing, and organizing all the things that they have and all the things they know about the assets of their community, and also about farming, marketing, and business.
What we did today was part of this first step, and by the end of it the group will have a narrowed down list of 3-4 crops that the group is interested in growing and selling together. Step 2 is when the group’s marketing team will study the market and report their results to the group. The third step is where the group will decide on the 1 crop they want to grow collectively and from that they will form a business plan. Kushirikiana, “Linking,” is next (step 4) and very important since this will be the point where the group will work to get connected with the appropriate agricultural and/or financial advisors and suppliers. And finally, step 5 is putting it all into action – using their own knowledge and resources to do collective agrobusiness.
Please continue to pray for us as we continue to develop relationships and walk along side this group of talented and intelligent people. Pray for Beth. And pray also for the farmers themselves. They have done so much and will do so much in the future, and pray that they will see that God is at work in their community and in their lives, and that Jesus is using them to help to bring His kingdom to the world.
Love,
Rebecca
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