- Despite agriculture contributing to 60 % of the country’s economy, farmers go through many frustrations in putting food on the table while paying the bills they owe.
Land leasing from farm owners has been a nightmare for peasant farmers, especially women and youth who rely on agriculture but have no farms.
Despite agriculture contributing to 60 % of the country’s economy, farmers go through many frustrations in putting food on the table while paying the bills they owe.
Beatrice Awuor, a peasant farmer from Radiro village in Homa Bay County, shared that leasing farms from owners has been a back-and-forth ordeal because farmers pull out of the agreement before terms expire.
“We have leased lands from other farmers for several years, the major challenge we get is that the owners revoke the leases once they see that your crops are blooming and they force us to harvest even before the perfect time comes,” shared Awuor.
Awuor also lamented that farm owners' carelessness cost them a lot of losses, as they could not reprimand them for the damage for fear of losing the lease.
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“Farm owners usually graze their cattle in the farms they lease to us and since we fear losing the land we just bear with the losses," Awuor lamented.
Practical Action, a Non-Governmental Organization, has been at the forefront of helping farmers, especially women and youth, secure lands for farming under legal leases that protect them from farm owners' frustrations.
Beatrice Awuor benefits from Practical Action's efforts, which enable her to lease land and peacefully harvest for as long as the contract says.
“Practical Action has helped farmers lease land since the contract is signed in the presence of the chief, farm owners cannot go back on their words because they will be punished by the law,” Awuor said.
Currently, Awuor has leased two farms, paying Ksh.8,000 for the whole year. From her tomato farm, Awuor gets a total of over Ksh100,000 without experiencing any damages because she is protected by the lease contract.
Haroline Atieno, Practical Action’s County Liason Officer, urged farmers who want to lease land and enjoy agriculture to contact the chiefs in their villages to get the contracts signed.
“Practical Action fights for the rights of farmers and through our help farmers in the county have had peaceful land leases enabling them to get economically empowered through agriculture,” Mrs. Atieno said.
Brian Otieno, a vegetable farmer, said that getting land was not easy in the past. Since he had no land, he experienced push and pull from farm owners. However, since he signed a contract with the farm owner through Practical Action, agriculture has been his source of income.
“Since I do not own land I used to talk to farm owners to lease their land to me for agricultural purposes but the owners used to evict me from their farm before I even harvested but now I have signed a 5 year contract with the help of my witnesses, I can now enjoy farming,” Otieno reiterated.
Youth and women are being urged to take active duty in agriculture as a source of food and income.
