- Get link
- Other Apps
Featured Post
Posted by
Maendeleo Vijijini
on
- Get link
- Other Apps
Some 400 metres from Ndagani Chuka on the entrance next to St
Lucy Hospital in Tharaka Nithi County sits Cefra Eco-Tourism and
Crocodile Farm.
The signboard announcing the farm at a road offers a glimpse of what to expect, but not all.
Cefra,
which occupies two-acres is not your ordinary farm as it hosts three
crocodiles (two females and a male), chameleons, tortoises and 11
varieties of ornamental birds, all for agritourism purposes.
The
birds include ring neck pheasants, bantams (silkie, booted, frizzle,
pekin, Japanese and Belgian bearded), ducks, turkeys, Egyptian geese,
guinea fowls (lavender, pied and pearl), fantail pigeons, peacocks and
brahma chicken.
Further, they grow over 17 different
varieties of bananas, both exotic and local, with a full-equipped Kenya
Plant Health Inspectorate Services approved laboratory.
“Cefra
is an agritourism farm where people visit and see the birds, crops and
animals and learn at a small fee,” says Franklin Riungu, the director.
Riungu says he came up with the idea after doing research on a viable agribusiness he can undertake in the county.
“I
had acquired the land in 2007 but had not found a unique business idea.
Everyone then was investing in hostels but that is not the route I
wanted to take,” he says of the farm he started last year.
The
former Nairobi East regional sales manager at Barclays Bank resigned to
venture into the business, which set him Sh10.6 million back.
LICENCE FROM KWS
Most of the money went on building structures to host the reptiles and the birds.
“I
contacted the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officials who offered advice
on the kind of structures I should build for the crocs, which include a
pond, a drying area and plenty of sand. Later, they sold me the
reptiles.”
One needs a licence from the KWS to rear the animals, which go for Sh1,500 per every species.
According
to Riungu, the reptiles are easy to manage as tortoises feed on fruits,
vegetables and insects while crocodiles have key interesting features
that make them easy to rear and manage.
“They can stay
for long without food. During cold months or when there is drought,
they go dormant by falling into a deep sleep. We feed them once a week
on raw cow, goat or rabbit meat where each croc gets a kilo or two
depending on the weather,” he says, noting he spends Sh2,000 a week to
feed the crocs.
He adds that the crocodiles have a
sharp sense that makes them good predators as they detect a prey either
on land or water from far.
For the birds that he
acquired from a farm in Karen, Nairobi, he has built for them special
houses, incorporating inside the ‘natural environment’ that include
perching areas and dry grass.
The birds feed on millet, sorghum, cassava and they crash whole maize for them.
INACCESSIBLE ROADS
The
animals and birds attract tens of people each day, including students,
each parting with Sh100 for the visit and Sh200 for agricultural
training per session.
“For the schools we have a limit
of two per month. We host an average of 30-50 people every day,” says
Riungu, adding the farm has a picnic area where people relax and eat
snacks, beverages and lunch, which they sell to them
More
cash comes from the banana farm and lab, where they train farmers on
good husbandry that include how to get suckers, grow the crop, harvest
and add value. They further sell seedlings to farmers.
“We also sell the bananas, but for the sweet potato, we are currently multiplying them awaiting certification from KEPHIS so that we can start selling the vines. The little we harvest now mostly we feed to our animals and birds,” says Barnice Wambui, the farm manager.
She
adds to grow the two crops, one needs to have plantlets that are
disease-free to maximise the output since they can predict the
harvesting period, and get good produce.
But it is not
all rosy. Riungu notes that due to poor roads, they lack visitors when
it rains because the roads become inaccessible.
PROMOTE AGRI-TOURISM
Joshua
Ogendo, an Associate Professor of Crop Protection and the Dean Faculty
of Agriculture, Egerton University, says that agrotourism is more than
just visiting the farm.
“Apart from creating an
environment where people can relax and learn, awareness on agriculture
products and technologies is created. The environment should be
protected and employment opportunities created.”
He
notes that both the county and national governments need to do a lot
more to promote this emerging form of agribusiness by committing more
resources to the development of agricultural technologies that people
can visit farms and learn.
“Agrotourism is a critical
component of any nation that values its farmers as the technologies
developed by researchers are passed on to various people. India, Israel
and Britain are some of the countries that are earning millions in
foreign exchange from agrotourism.”
SOURCE: NMG
SOURCE: NMG
Comments
Post a Comment