Residents of Mununga in Kigumo subcounty, Murang’a, have said extreme sub-division of land and poor tea proceeds have condemned them to live in a cycle of poverty.
The residents have said despite engaging in tea farming in one of the areas considered most productive in the county, they still struggle to put food on their tables.
This, they said, is because their tea harvests are little and the pay poor, making it extremely difficult for them to support their families.
The residents spoke at Gikigie Primary school on Saturday while receiving food donations from Jesus The Way Ministry. They said the small farm portions also make it hard for them to produce sufficient food for consumption.
Farmer Njoroge Chege said it is unheard of for tea growers to queue for relief food.
“We are hardworking people. We should be in our farms working but we have no food and that is why we came here for help,” Njoroge said.
He urged the government to streamline cash crop sectors to ensure farmers get returns from their back-breaking work.
An average tea farmer in the area harvests about 200 kilograms of tea per month which is then sold at Sh15 per kilogram, amounting to an average of Sh3,000 every month, he said.
“The money is not enough to feed children and educate them. Let the government implement reforms in the tea sector as fast as possible so that we can earn more from our small tea farms,” he said, adding that the meagre prices are frustrating.
But Bernice Nduta blamed the subdivision of land in Central to polygamy in the previous years which she said resulted in many children, each getting a parcel from the parents.
“Our fathers had numerous wives who got too many children individually, constraining the land resource,” she said, lauding the church for supporting them.
Rufus Mwangi said he is now compelled to work in other people’s farms to support his four children and 95-year-old mother as his farm is too small.
Waweru Mwangi said he has to take care of his elderly parents.
“We are happy to be supported with foodstuffs because what we produce in our farms is not enough,” he said.
The church’s chairman Joseph Chege appealed to the youths to consider acquiring land away from their homes to reduce the pressure on land.
He said the high population aggravates land subdivision and strains the economic wellbeing of residents.
“Many farmers focus on tea which requires large farms to be gainful, leading to desperation among locals. Those in charge of the sector should put measures in place that will guarantee better prices,” he said.
The church distributed foodstuffs worth Sh1 million, with each beneficiary getting two packets of maize flour, porridge flour, cooking oil and blankets.
The church is also engaging in other charitable activities in the village at Sh5 million, including empowering youths with motorcycles and building homes for the extremely poor.
“We are doing all this to spread love to the disadvantaged because Christianity is love. We have come up with a programme that seeks to empower locals’ lives economically and we are engaging local leaders to establish the best ways of supporting them,” Chege said.