Thursday, September 24, 2009

Kenya Part 1

Learnings/Thoughts/Reflections Sept '09 Kenya trip to land of Kikuyu in Rift Valley

Agriculture
tea and coffee planations

100's of acres of coffee picked bean by bean, outer husk removed; bean washed, graded, dried, covering removed, roasted, marketed.


tea - 2 leaves and a bud picked, into large sacks taken and dried. lots of fire wood used

intense farming: 3000 chickens, large rooms of 500, eggs collected 3xday, 7 days a week, watering on automatic systems; all sweepings taken up and sold for manure;


cows fed corn stalks, matooke trees, cut by panga or machine ( hand operated or electric)
Freisan cows for milk are common. Most are black and white, some brown.

Other cash crops: avacados, macadamea nuts, while cabbages, greens, maize are common crops for home

recycling manure into coffee fields robusta likes shade and arabaca likes sun. Large old plantations near Thika now sold and converted into fancy houses and subdivisions

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