Pascal Kaumbutho, a Kenyan agricultural engineer, suffered bouts of frustration as a lecturer at the University of Nairobi’s Department of Agricultural Engineering that eventually led to his exit from the teaching profession. His frustrations went beyond the university classroom and his students.
"I was frustrated because of my inability to help small-scale farmers who were doing so much for the country and getting little in return," he says. Furthermore, most of his students remained jobless for many years after graduation. "I felt that I wasn’t doing much for them," he says.
This called for a break to rethink his life and career. "Did I want to earn money yet be unable to improve the lives of my students or farmers?" he asked himself. After much soul-searching, he resigned. His decision shocked his closest friends.
He joined hands with a Dutch company that taught farmers better ways of harnessing their animals. He formed the Kenya Network for Dissemination of Agricultural Technologies (Kendat), an NGO he runs. He started Kendat to demonstrate the equipment to farmers. "Since they could not travel all the way to Nairobi, we decided to reach them wherever they were," he says.
At Kendat, he developed a three-pronged approach that covered conservation agriculture, poverty watch and better care of animals, especially donkeys.
...farmers also learnt about EurepGAP regulations...through Kendat the farmers were encouraged to use donkeys to fetch water.
"They had never imagined using donkeys before," he remarks. Due to the water shortage, people used to go for water as early as 3am and carry it on their backs. We have also taught the farmers the drip irrigation system to water the plants," he says. "Farmers were also taught about mulching and agricultural conservation."
Apart from running Kendat, Kaumbutho is also the co-ordinator of a Government project known as Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (CA-SARD)."For the Government to let a person from the NGO world to run its project, it shows that the person is good in whatever he does," he says. "This is an honour for me." He, however, points out that some Government officials imagine there is a lot of money in NGOs and hence they should get their cut.
Kaumbutho is a fulfilled man. Through his efforts many farmers no longer need to plough or weed frequently.
"What we teach the farmers is about labour saving," he says. The technologies they have taught the farmers enable them to have higher outputs for limited efforts.
The Standard-Kenya
