She married young, immediately after her form-four education, to a man who was then a lorry turnboy; neither had any college certificate or any skill. All they had was a determination to make sure they succeeded in life.
When Isabella Kiplagat, a mother of four and grandmother of two, got married, she told herself that she wouldn’t be a housewife who just sits at home while she waits for the husband to provide for the family but would instead do whatever it takes to assist her husband.
By then they were living in a rented house in Nyaru in Keiyo South and therefore paying rent and other domestic expenses would have been too much for the husband.
“I knew that if I sit around doing nothing, it will be very difficult for us to develop as a family,” she said.
From that rented house, they have managed to buy a quarter of an acre in Iten town and are now constructing a multi-million mansion for their family without taking any loan but solely relying on agricultural proceeds from their farm.
Mrs Kiplagat started farming beans and maize in Epkei in the Kerio Valley before shifting to Kaptagat Forest, where, through the Plantation Establishment and Livelihood Improvement Scheme (PELIS), she got a farm in Kaptagat Forest where she grew potatoes even as she tended to the young trees.
“At the same time I was also keeping poultry and would also sell firewood which I collected from the forest. From the sale of eggs and chicken I bought a heifer and after she calved we were able to get milk. This way I was able to assist my husband in feeding our young family and save something,” she said.
The cow produced more calves, which they later sold and pooled savings with her husband, who had been promoted to a driver and purchased the plot in Iten in 2010.
After moving to Iten, she had to start all over again. She bought local chicken, popularly known as Kienyeji and would ensure they hatch twice.
“I would give a hen 10 eggs and after 21 days remove the chicks and give it a further 10 eggs. This way I was able to increase the number of chickens faster,” she said.
Mrs Kiplagat understands that for one to succeed in agriculture, one must have several revenue streams and therefore she has kept on expanding her agricultural ventures. She again sold the chicks and bought a heifer and now has two cows which give her 20 litres per day.
“This ensures that I not only get milk but also cash for our everyday use, as I sell 10 litres daily, while there are customers who pay monthly for the remaining 10 litres, making a total of Sh36,000, with each litre going for Sh60,” she says.
Noting that poultry is her lifeline, she has continued to rear chicks but this time she buys one-day-old chicks from brooders, takes care of them and sells them when they are two weeks old for Sh200 each, while a one-month-old goes for Sh300 each.
“I usually buy 300 one-day-old chicks at Sh100 each so after two weeks I sell the same for Sh60,000. When I get a customer who wants them at one month old, I sell for Sh90,000. We also get two chicks as a discount, which I keep for the family,” she said.
She says she was introduced to solar irrigation by her brother-in-law, and using water from their borehole, she farms vegetables which she sells to vendors in Iten and also uses solar to light her house. On top of this, she has invested in biogas and thus does not have to pay electricity bills nor buy gas.
Mrs Kiplagat is also a pig farmer; she says her husband was against pigs, saying they will increase her workload and he didn’t like the foul smell within the compound. But being the risk taker that she is, she chose to rear pigs.
“I bought three piglets, reared them and after calving, I sold one of the mature pigs at Sh47,000. I was elated. Later on, I sold three pigs at Sh114,000; since then, I have never looked back,” she said.
In fact, the day we visited her farm, one of the pigs was in the process of giving birth. She says pigs are good business, saying a pig for beef takes 4-5 months to mature, while one can serve a female pig at between 5-6 months.
She says some of her customers come from as far as Eldoret, while others are pork butcheries from Iten, adding that she has also been selling 35-day piglets at Sh3,000 to other farmers who are interested in pig farming.
She says that for her to excel in her farming, she has been visiting various agricultural exhibitions and it was during such a visit at the University of Eldoret that she was introduced to fish farming.
Mrs. Kiplagat immediately implemented it on her farm and from the 3-by-4-foot space, she put in 300 fingerlings and after 6 months, she sold the fish at Sh200 each, earning Sh60,000. “This gave me the motivation to continue; I now have doubled the number to 600 fingerlings,” she said.
Apart from these, she rears turkeys, which also help in providing security at the home and she sells each at Sh4,000; guinea fowls, which go for Sh2,500 each; ducks, which go for Sh6,000 per pair and sheep.
To accommodate all these in a quarter of an acre, Mrs Kiplagat says they sat with the husband and came up with the idea of constructing a timber one-storey structure where the birds and store are located upstairs while the animals plus the fish occupy the “ground” floor.
As she says, it is not the size of land that matters but smart farming, saying her arrangement has left enough room for doing horticultural farming as well as enough space for their shelter.
The family do not have any farmhands, but instead they all work on the farm, thus ensuring that they can all take care of the animals.
“This ensures that our children also appreciate manual work and also know that they shouldn’t rely on white-collar jobs.
Mrs. Kiplagat says from the farming proceeds she has bought a washing machine to assist in laundry as she tends to the farm, especially when she is alone.
Her fame has spread and farmers often visit to learn more about farming. She says she doesn’t charge them nor is she planning to, saying the farmers have helped her market her produce.
Apart from farming, she is also a village elder, a community health promoter and a Sunday school teacher. To do all these, she has to plan her day well. She says she feeds the animals at night, while the birds are fed once in the morning.
She is calling on women to look for what they can do to develop their families. She is also calling on the youth to engage in agribusiness instead of spending time looking for elusive white-collar jobs, saying it pays.
By Alice Wanjiru
