How Agnes Muli enjoys fruits of Kenya, Tanzania cordial ties

“A good neighbour - a found treasure,” so goes a Chinese proverb, making much more sense to Agnes Muli.

Agnes Muli, lives on the edge of Loitoktok forest station in Kajiado County. From this forest, one crosses over a graded road to reach North Kilimanjaro forest in the neighbouring country of Tanzania.

Ms Muli has greatly benefitted from the proximity of these two major natural resources in the East African region crowned by the generosity and friendliness of the Tanzanians.

While her fellow locals in other parts of Kajiado County such as Kimana struggle to feed and quench the livestock thirst, Ms Muli is having a less stressful time.

There is lack of pasture and water owing to prolonged drought.

Emaciated cows

The pastoralists in Kimana have turned to selling some of their livestock to buy hay to feed the remaining fold. A bale of hay that cost Sh100 -Sh150 during the rainy season now sells Sh350 - Sh400.

The price of the cows has sharply depreciated. For example, a well-nourished cow that sold Sh45,000 is now retailing at Sh5,000 as the pastoralists trade off their emaciated cows at throwaway rates.

She has four dairy cows and selling either of them in exchange for hay isn’t her plan.

She has a source with plenty of grass: Tanzania’s North Kilimanjaro forest.

“Tanzanians are very good people. They allow us to freely cut grass in the forest,” says Ms Muli.

Her homestead is 10 minutes away from the forest.

She explains their warmth: “They usually tell me ‘Pole mama-sorry mum’ whenever they find me weighed down with a load of grass on my back.”

From her cows, she earns not less than Sh1,280 daily.

She says during the rainy season when there is plenty of pasture, one cow produces 10 litres, a yield that has reduced to four. A litre goes for Sh80, she says.

“They feed to their satisfaction when they graze around. The grass I bring them is not enough. I’d do four rounds for each cow to feed to their satisfaction but I can only manage one round for each. Going up and down the hill is strenuous and tiresome,” she says.

Nevertheless, she is better off than her fellow locals who have to walk for more than 10km to access borehole water. There is some relief to her domestic chores.

She has tap water at her homestead piped from the permanent spring flowing from Tanzania's forest.

“I’m a member of Loitoktok Community Forest Association (LCFA) and as members of the group, we pooled resources and piped the water,” she says.

She pays a monthly fixed charge of Sh200 to the group to cater for maintenance.

“Should the Tanzanians decide to disconnect the water, I’ll have to trek to mountain (secondary) school to fetch water for my cows and domestic use.”

Tree seedlings

The school, she says, is more than 10km away.

Until early this year, Tanzanians were her primary customers when she sold maize.

As a member of LCFA, Ms Muli is allowed to farm in the forest under the Plantation Establishment and Livelihood Improvement Scheme provided for in the Forest Conservation and Management Act (2016).

She says she has grown maize, beans, and potatoes in a quarter acre allocated to her, for years. Kenya Forest Service (KFS) allocates them the portions soon after the exotic trees have been harvested.

She pays Sh143 to KFS annually, to grow crops on the farm and in return, she grows exotic trees on the portion and looks after them for the four years she is allowed on the farm.

But at the beginning, of this year, she says KFS advised them against growing maize because they suppressed the growth of tree seedlings

 “I’d harvest nine sacks of maize; consume three of them and sell the rest to the Tanzanians. They used to come here to buy. They’d buy a sack for between Sh5,000 and Sh6,000,” she explains.

“Now, since I’m no longer growing maize, I have been forced to buy from them at Sh800 to Sh6,000 per sack.”

[email protected]