 This is the way to do it. This is the way to do it. This is the way to do it. Most young people perceive agriculture as not only a dirty job but an elderly person's job. However, today we have George Owala to give a different opinion. So George, welcome. A lot of young people shun agriculture. Is it what you trained for? No. I started my first training on electrical and electronics engineering. That was at Railway Training Institute. After graduation, I lived in Nairobi for some time and while I was on attachment I realized we purchase foodstuff which are agricultural produce at very high prices. So I thought of what if I do agriculture and produce for example onions and then we used to purchase onions at five shillings. So I thought to myself here I'm struggling here to look for a job and we have a farm down there. I can rent farms and produce the onions we buy here. We can now produce the onions at home and sell them to the market. That's when I thought to revert back home and start producing, start indulging in agriculture. Okay. You rented farms? Yes, I rented farms. Medially I rented farms because at the time when I was coming back the family land was occupied. We had a family dispute on the land so I couldn't operate it. So I went to rental farms for for peace. You know whenever this peace this progress. Yeah. So what were you producing? When I came in I started producing onions. I went from onions I moved to cabbages, Tsukumawiki and Capsicum. Nice. Yes and then I found out that we when I do products like cabbages and onions I harvest once. So for you to run the cabbages and the onions take up to two to three months or some four for them to mature for the market. So for you to run them well you need a continuous cash flow so as to maintain the farms. So that's when I came in with I came in with Tsukumawiki with gales because after a month they are mature. You can now start plucking them and taking them to the market. Capsicum too you can harvest continuously so that you get the amount to run the farm to buy pesticides to do cultivation and all that. Yeah now that is where I started from. So you said that is where you started from cabbage, Tsukumawiki. Where are you now? Right now I'm doing I'm specializing majorly on dairy production. Where I do dairy cows. When I talk of dairy I mean keeping cattle for milk. Yes majorly for milk. And so I do dairy production. I also do bee keeping. That's we keep bees for honey. Right now we do bees especially for honey. As much as the other bee products like wax and nectar and among others what I'm capable of harvesting at this point is just the honey. I also do poultry production that is for meat and eggs. I also do dairy production goat production and that is goat for meat. We do the indigenous goats they are they are hardy and they survive better in our environment. And if I may ask is this on a small scale or a large scale? I can talk of small scale right now because we are starting is just most of this stuff most of these programs we're just starting them they haven't been in action for long. And so most people think that agriculture near what was there but you're a young person how have you maneuvered through it? Yeah the first thought that hit me was the idea that when you have when you want to do agriculture you have to retire first. Oh yeah sure. So when I came right from college my parents had paid some amount there. My dad was happy because he used to do agriculture. I was when I was born he was already in yes he was a teacher but he was already in agriculture when he was teaching. So he kept on motivating me look after the cows look after the cows he had he had one indigenous cow he crossed it and then later brought in a pure breed that was a freshion a freshion is the the kind they can you see there that's a black and white it's a it's a fresh and cow. Yes so he welcomed me and he told me now this is the right way to go but my mom was like my son you need to get a job. You see when you get old you need a pension you can get sick even tomorrow and you need you need to be employed with government so that even if you get sick we'll pay you the government will pay you at all and wait until you see the product of what I want to do here. Yeah I was like I can now if his pension is what she wants me to earn I can rare the I can do the horticulture rare the cows make money build rentals so that when I get old now the rentals will pay me yes but the the kind of setting that I'm having is not the kind that will collapse when I get old because I'm working on incorporating other people training more people so that when the when I I now get old as it said the program will run meaning I don't die the program doesn't die when I die. Yes so the people that you're training are they young people like you young people especially I I train a majorly school going kids yes when they develop love because I like the idea when the young people are incorporated into this business yeah when they come when when they see what I do they come in when I am preparing animal feed and they like it so they grow with it it's easier to train them than to train adults but then the adults who come in like for example in the poultry sector have had a lot of visits from adults they come in they they they like what I do and then they pick the the the chicken from me we call it the seed we call it the seed they pick the seed those are the junior the young chicken and then they go the chicks they go and start the poultry and over and over again they will be calling for advice how do I do this how do we handle this disease how do how do we feed them what feed do we give now and then you find that on a larger scale you get more people getting into agriculture even those who were previously not interested I would love to congratulate you for incorporating other young people about what you're doing so if I want to join your enterprise about the dairy the poultry what do I need how do I need to prepare now for starters for a startup it depends now if you want to do the animals the first the first thing that you must consider is the housing okay yes once you get the housing depending on what you want to do if you want to do the the dairy you get your housing and then if you want to do the poultry or even the goats there's a specialized housing for them and then you consider they will consider the feeds where will I get the feed will I purchase commercial feeds or will I have to grow my own depending on the amount of capital you have and the resources available you'll choose I want you'll choose to start it's always good to start with a reasonable number and then grow as you learn yeah you don't have to start with 10 or maybe a large number you can start with a few be it poultry be it be it dairy or even the goats whichever enterprise you start on a lower scale and then you grow with with time and then before any and the one factor that you always have to consider before starting up the enterprise is what is mine goal is my goal to produce for consumption or for the market if it is for the market what is my market where is my market who will buy this produce because it will be pointless to produce without the market before I produce I first think of the market if I've seen the gap the scarcity in for example goat meat in the market I look I look around when I when I walk around I want to buy a goat or find goat meat at the market for example in my local area here you'll never find a goat a goat which are so when I saw that that that goal I now came in with the the goat production idea but I now realize again that you cannot I cannot produce goats sufficient for the whole market that we have so I encourage others as I encourage them you'll find when they want to to start up the project they'll come to my farm you know you have good breeds give me one so you also find your your your market from encouraging others to join you yes that is so impressive and I love the idea that and that is so good that is so good so you talked about having a goal what goals did you have when you started and have you achieved them yes when I when I started I used to watch on youtube the big farms that are abroad you find them producing milk and then they process their milk so my goal was that I was and still is that I reached to a level where I can produce milk sufficient to run a processing plant and not me alone in cooperating other farmers who are the interested party so that we can produce because when you start the processing when you start to process milk it will need a lot of milk for example to process yogurt needs a lot of a lot of milk yeah input that a single farmer cannot but you see anytime you you go you go alone you don't go too far you might move fast but you wouldn't go too far so I had the goal of being in a position where I can produce milk add value to it package it and now put it out to the market and this involves I producing dairy cows that will produce for my my farm and then also the best part of dairy is when you start selling hay fuzz when I talk of hay fuzz these are dairy cows that female cows that are between birth between maturity and giving birth okay yes yeah after after it's it reaches puberty up to the point it gives birth it's called a hay fuzz they are the seed that we sell to other farms to produce so once you my breeding stock is full now I'll start selling out the hay fuzz to other farms so that you incorporate more and more people into dairy production then you become a dairy zone well it's easier to attack the market where when you move collectively than when you move alone this will bring about consistency in the market such that they know when we go to that milk center or milk plant we'll always get good quality milk we also have to look at the quality of our produce what are we producing and it should be of of a high grade about the quality what causes the difference in the milk quality is it the cows or what what really causes that the milk quality or composition as we call it is determined by factors such as one the breed of the cow if it's a freshener for example a freshener has a lot of milk it has a lot of milk it can produce up to 50 liters a day wow yes but the butterfly content is raw compared to other breeds like the asha and the jasi for example the asha produces up to 30 liters a day but it has a it's me the milk from the asha cow has higher butterfly content than the the freshener so that is on the breed if it is an asha it will have not so much milk compared to freshener but lower butterfly but higher butterfly content and then for the freshener high amounts of milk lower butterfly content so and the other factor that also affects the quality of the milk is the feed you feed to your animals and also the environment what do you mean by environment when I talk of environment is where are you producing the milk the environmental conditions such as the weather is it warm enough is it cold that is one the the weather will determine the the feed quality if you are growing for your farm will determine the feed quality the environment also entails the milk handlers how hygienic oh yeah how hygienic are the milk handlers are they clean are they do they handle milk correctly because you'll find others will want to make money so fast one thing I didn't tell you about agriculture is not a get rich fast business you have to be patient when you you can start once you start you have to wait and you trust the process so you grow with experience you grow with the time so you'll find those who come in into the enterprise they want to get rich fast they come with them these are want more money fast you'll find the temper with the milk composition some will add water yeah some will add the we call it the wheat flour some will add the starch the starch is the ingredient we use in in the preparation of yogurt yeah so it's not supposed to be added to fresh milk but because they want to add water and maintain the thickness of the milk they add water and also mix with with with the starch so that when they go to the market they'll have milk that looks like this quality milk but it's tampered with and how can I know the difference as a buyer as a buyer it's the the market is so smart you'll realize it when you use the milk one but then if you leave the milk to settle for some time all the additives will settle to the yeah the residue will settle to the bottom and then when you when you observe it in a clear glass you can notice not quality milk but just by mere observation if you have quality milk and milk that is is not of good quality you'll you'll notice yes even when you're on test yes so what is the feeding process of your poultry of your cows how do you feed them when I talk of poultry I do feed formulation there are two ways once the the the animals ovary the animals need two kind of feeds they need refuges and concentrates for poultry I do once I keep them indoors the systems of running poultry so I keep poultry indoors for the first two months that after the two months they'll be they'll be big enough so that they would they would escape predators yeah when on top of the eagle and the right and the likes so I release them to free range after after the second after two months so when they are in the first two months I feed them on commasional feed I buy a chick mash at the right stage I buy grower mash I also you you also must supply water because water is the major part of their nutrition you supply them with water continuously but there's no time that you should they should exist without water so you have to supply them with drinking water clean drinking water all the all the time and feed after the two months now I start producing my own feed I do formulation I buy ingredients from their vendors the market from factories like maize milling factories I go there for maize and wheat bran I bring them in I take in maize and there are a lot more ingredients that are involved in the process of feed formulation that's what I formulate for my adult chicken yeah so so as to reduce on production cost and I do the vaccinations and always I have to ensure that I always have to ensure that their premise is hygienic enough and you'll realize when they're walking outside they also get the grasses and some other ants so they get the supplements yeah yeah but whenever you're making we're making feeds for the chicken we have to consider the the formulation process so that your feed is all inclusive it's balanced so that they get the proteins they want they get the carbohydrates and all the the fats they need yes and then for the for the cows they also feed they feed majorly on refuges that involves napier grass and we have a lot of other grasses we have bacharia we have rods grasses we have legumes such as the loosan those are what we feed to the goats and the and the and the cows we will the best way to prepare your feed is to harvest it at the right stage of course these all this fodder they have different stages of harvest of harvesting when they are mature for harvesting we will harvest the feed and then you choose whether you want to feed directly or store we call it food feed preservation you can feed to them directly and some if there's a during plenty during plenty that is during the rainy seasons that there's a lot of feed animals for feed you feed some directly but some you dry and store for for future use because there'll be scarcity during sea dry season so in most cases when I harvest I don't feed I don't take it directly to the animal I sun dry it for 24 hours that is about two days and then I first sit through the chaff cutter so that it can be ground to a form that is easily taken by that can be easily taken by the animal the best practice is now to incorporate the the feed with the sweetener to improve its palatability I have noticed from your explanation there is a lot of technical agricultural stuff so come on me me I'm a new farmer who wants to get into agriculture do I go for training to learn the poultry names the fresh air ashayas do I get to have training on that it's not almost okay yes so how do I get to know that well once you start they are farmers who already exist and a good example is me okay yes we mentor others so if you start just a little mentorship like you be if you ask if you you come for example you want to buy cow from me or you want to buy seed stock that is chicks from me you'll take them from me and you'll be continuing I'll continually follow up and you'll also be following up on but you don't have to buy from me for me to advise you we offer information there's only in agriculture that we offer information for free yes once you visit me I just tell you this what we do this how to do it and apart from that the government has extension officers as much as they're not as many as required they're not as many to to offer the services required in all the places but there are some we can access them at the office a few of them visit yes but we can always get the information from them and the veterinary officers also they come in when they come to treat they they advise you on what to what to do yes so information is also available online so if you can access the internet some of the information about how to wear your animals or even do your cropping you you can access the information online that is if you cannot access one on one service yes yeah and since you are knee-deep into agriculture if someone want to offer you another IT job would you jump for it the factors that will determine whether I go for it or not okay and the major factor is where is the job located if the job is located in my county meaning I can operate from home I'm okay because I need extra money to develop my farm I need a better shed than the one I'm having now so the amounts I'm getting as profit I pump them back into the farm and I use them to pay my fee and sustain just like I said I stay here with mom yeah we work together when I'm in school she takes care of the animals we need to sustain our livelihood we need to run the farm we need to pay bills so the profits I'm making from the farm yes they're not as sufficient as I may require so if someone wants to offer me another job in my line of profession I would take it to support my family it will really work good but it depends on the location what I know is not possible is for me to now go to the urban centers and stay there because I have to attend to the animals like on a daily basis whenever I go to school I have to report back home every weekend to ensure them they're sprayed yes because another thing I didn't talk about is when you have all this livestock one thing you have to take good consideration of is control of parasites most of the people doing poultry they do not they do not deworm the poultry they do not control the external we have entered internal and external parasites the major one for the cows is ticks you'll find that uh there's a tick a tick that once it it it stings your cow it will cause disease that's very difficult to treat but prevention is better than cure just as always so I have to always be here during the weekends to ensure all the parasites are controlled correctly we're using the correct procedure because a wrong procedure will also cause harm to the animal so most of the the technical stuff I do them myself yes and there's so many young people out there hanging on to their qualifications and with them unemployment frustrations what can you tell them the best approach when you are frustrated maybe in your job or or whatever it is that you're practicing or you don't have the job you you you have qualifications you have your papers is first where you are interest what is my interest then you follow your interest friends come in commentership but the first thing I asked us a question what can you do if it is in the agricultural sector what do you like you'll find some they studied for example a different course uh and then their interest maybe is some technical job they want to do some wiring it's very difficult to to convert this particular person who wants to do electric electrically electrical stuff to now come and start wearing goats but if you're interested in agriculture which part of agriculture because agriculture is very large and it's interesting if you love it if you got love for it you create you'll always create time when I used if I when once when I'm doing my cropping I would just take my time and go sit at the farm and see how the wind blows to the to the plants you spend some one hour just watching the and when we're handling the cows and and even the chicken you give them feed and then you start watching it's lovely it's a best the best way to to spend your time so that you don't have a lot of free time to waste or indulge in in practices that affect your life negatively yes nice actually from hearing your story I have been forced to reflect and I would love to thank you and congratulate you from the march you've come and keeping on the legacy that your dad left you and you've not given up I would love to congratulate you on that I would love to ask you too have you felt that reflective impulse to do what you need to do despite the unemployment frustration despite the not knowing where to go after campus or after having a qualification what else do you have as he has said what can you do reflect on that what can you do aside from the paper what can you do if you do not have that employment what do you have do you have people that you can go ask do you have mentors that you can sit down with and learn about it think about that this has been youth in action I am young this is the way to do it this is the way to do it