The assistance from USAID, it came in at the
time when we really needed it.
The Kenyan government had difficult challenges
with donors, one program that never suffered
was our partnership with USAID.
We owe much gratitude to those Americans who
had the vision and who worked with our own
politicians to make that lift possible.
Forever USAID should live and grow and multiply.
This film is, really marks the celebration,
it marks 50 years of partnership between Kenya
and the United States, and I hope that this
film will show a couple of different things-
a variety of programs and activities that
have occurred over the last 50 years and the
impact that they have had on Kenya, on the
Kenyan people. Pamoja tutafaulu-together we
will succeed.
Kenya's efforts at reform cannot succeed without
simultaneously tackling poverty. As part of
President Barack Obama's $3.5 billion dollar
'Feed the Future' Initiative, USAID is working
with Kenyans to accelerate agricultural development
and improve nutrition.
Agriculture is the largest single employer
in the Kenyan economy providing three out
of four Kenyans with their livelihoods, bringing
in 26% of GDP and comprising 65% of the country’s
exports.
Maize is the main staple in the Kenyan diet.
One out of every two acres farmed grows maize.
But maize production is inefficient and this
contributes to economic stagnation and poverty.
USAID is working with farmers to increase
maize productivity. The goal is household
food security. That means better nutrition
and less poverty. And the message to small
hold farmers is diversify and innovate.
In the dairy sector USAID works with small
hold farmers to make them more competitive
in the regional market. That means producing
quality milk through improved genetics and
veterinary services as well as on-the-ground
training.
Although Kenya has huge greenhouse-based farms
and is a world class flower exporter, small
hold farmers have found a niche as well.
Summer flowers called 'fillers' by florists
are now grown mostly outdoors in small farms.
USAID works through the Kenya Horticultural
Competitiveness Program. Their on the ground
partner and Kenya's dominant supplier, Wilmar,
has only 50 employees and controls 60% of
Kenya’s outdoor flower market. It provides
seeds and training to 2,500 farmers, collects
their flowers, packages them and sells them
at auctions in the Netherlands. The aim this
year is to sell their flowers directly to
American, European and Japanese supermarkets.
With the help of Kenya Horticultural competitiveness
program and USAID, we have been able to be
accredited rain forest certification.
Passion Fruit; Small, wrinkly, seedy Passion
fruit. It's as good as gold. Just over six
years ago, here in the Rift Valley, Kenya's
breadbasket, the farmers had never tried planting
passion. USAID changed that. Kenya has become
one of the world's major passion fruit producers.
Passion has transformed Eunice Langat's life.
USAID have helped us enough. They have come
for a word of advice. They have advised us
to grow passion fruits. Even they are marketing
for us. So they have helped us so much.
USAID works on the ground with the Kenya Horticultural
Competitiveness Program and the Kenyan government.
This is not a miracle crop. It is labor intensive,
requires daily commitment, pruning, spraying,
trellising the plants. Pests can decimate
it in just days. It needs water on a daily
basis.
Passion has a tenfold return over maize and
unlike maize provides income on a weekly basis.
80 percent of Kenya's purple passion fruit
is exported fresh to Uganda. Yellow passion
fruit becomes juice, an international market
growing at 10 percent a year.
One of the region's great Passion success
stories used to be a secretary in Nairobi.
Zipporah Simiyu lived here.
In 2004, I was in a semi-permanent house when
I started farming passion. Right now if you
look at my home everything will tell that
passion has improved me because passion is
the only thing I do.
She now runs this USAID and KHCP supported
farm project: 'The Good Neighbor's Community
Program' 300 groups or 6,000 farmers. In one
greenhouse she provides a nursery for disease-free
seedlings. Her program trains farmers, teaches
them how to increase soil fertility, manage
and prevent crop disease.
I think passion, I farm passion, I sell passion,
I earn from passion.
Her most successful farmer, Rex Aseli.
I just had some interest in passion fruits.
For the few farmers whom I saw dealing with
passion fruits, I saw that they were doing
well, but I felt that I should go in and break
that record. I produced slightly over 6000
kilograms of passion fruits. So if you make
that calculation you will see that maybe in
a day it could be over 200 kilograms daily.
