“Kutembea kwingi kuona mengi,” so they say.
Last week, my team and I found ourselves in Dodoma and then Arusha, Tanzania.
We had gone to meet the love of our lives: onions.
But first, we went to Nane-Nane in Dodoma. Later, we headed to Kibaigwa, where Madam Ghati, one of the most serious farmers in Tanzania, helped us tour several tomato farmers in the area.
Madam Ghati is so serious that last year, she made the impromptu trip to our Agitech Grand Expo in Mwea. Having experienced the distance from Dodoma to Arusha, a 5-hour drive, it was hard not to be impressed by her dedication last year.
So we toured tomato farms in Kibaigwa and Mkoa wa Dodoma generally, where we also made new friends.
Then, on Tuesday evening, we made the trip back with the objective of touring onion farms in Singida and Mang’ola.
Our host in this area, however, informed us that there is no significant onion farming going on in Singida at this time, and so we rerouted to Mang’ola.
Mang’ola is a place where bulk onions are produced.
Let me tell you, Maina, the amount of land under production of onions is staggering.
The land, the weather, the water, the labour and even the government all work together to support the Tanzanian farmers' journey into wealth wonderfully.
Interestingly, very little of the farming we saw was happening near rivers.
In Arusha and even Dodoma, the climate hovers between arid and semi-arid.
Farming is by boreholes. A borehole can cost KES. 300,000 in some areas. We found farmers with three or four boreholes especially when farming at scale.
Another interesting fact is that there were very few diesel engines on the farms we visited. Electricity was everywhere.
Being connected to the national grid appeared considerably easier than what many Kenyan farmers experience. Even in remote areas, as long as there is a farmer, the government gets power to you.
In most cases, and it is allowed, farmers buy their own transformers and the government connects them to the national grid.
Then, pesticides.
All I will say is this:
If our government has banned certain chemicals in Kenya because they are considered unsafe, then it is reasonable to ask whether produce imported from countries where those chemicals are still used is being adequately tested for the relevant MRLs.
I also have a bone to pick with the Tanzanian farmer: pesticide containers.
We found them everywhere.
You kicked empty pesticide bottles on your way to many of the farms. It worked to our advantage because it gave us a glimpse into some of the active ingredients being used.
As one of our hosts said:
“The easiest way to wealth in Tanzania is to farm onions and tomatoes.”
And after what we saw, I understand why she said it.
The Kenyan farmer has a problem. No matter how hard we work or how educated we are, we are simply comparatively disadvantaged compared to the Tanzanian farmer.
It is one thing to hear from third-parties about how Tanzanian onions will be flooding the Kenyan market within the next 6 months.
It is another very scary thing to actually see the thousands of acres of onions barely 3 hours from the Kenyan border.
Then to see hundreds of FRRs full of Tanzanian onions raising dust headed to the Kenyan market.
It makes you think,
“Why bother? I cannot compete with this.”
To Kenyan farmers, if your strategy was to work harder.
You will need to re-think. You must become smarter, more strategic and most importantly, choose your crops very wisely.
View attachment 3654398