A Glimpse into the Life of a Smallholder Farmer

I just returned from a two day trip to Kitale, Kenya. It is on the western side of Kenya, a beautiful oasis in stark contrast to the bustling city streets of Nairobi. I flew there in a 10 seater plane and it was the closest I have ever been to actually flying…

I was visiting one of the Acumen Fund Fellows, Josephat Byaruhanga, at Western Seeds (WS), a hybrid seed producer and distributor. Western Seeds is an incredibly impressive enterprise that is taking on Kenya Seeds (the government backed seed company serving about 80% of the market) head to head with the mission of serving the small scale farmer. Josephat is currently building WS’s Direct Access Sales initiative which is a new program to sell directly to the farmer, in order to eliminate the middle man who often rips off the farmer and WS in the process.

Western Seeds was founded by Saleem Esmail, a true social entrepreneur who has spend his whole life learning from the small scale farmer and has built his business to do the same, WS’s mantra is “bringing technology to the farmer”.

I had the unique opportunity to spend the day in the field visiting rural farmers with Josephat and Joelle, an employee on Western Seeds marketing team. It was one best experiences I have had in a long time. One of the highlights from the trip was driving through villages all over Kitale in the WS pickup truck (which by the way I got to drive), and hearing the villagers yell “505”, which is the name of one of the best hybrid seeds produced by WS. It was so clear that all the farmers valued the WS product. Now the real challenge for WS is to make sure they can produce enough seeds and deliver them to the farmer at an affordable price.

On the plane ride home looking out the window reflecting on my journey, I found myself incredibly thankful for the opportunity to spend time in the rural communities and learn from them about their challenges and opportunities. It reminded me of why I work in this field. But more importantly it reminded of how much I have, how much we all have really, and how much there is to do...