"We're currently training 1000 Kenyan farmers to grow new crops"

Imagine having extremely fertile land in Kenya, but never being able to produce profitable crops that allow you to feed your family. This is what Mike and Michele Robison encountered in their first travels to Kenya, in 2003. The people living around Mt Elgon mostly cultivated maize, had to travel a long way to a market to be able to sell their produce and would get exploited while doing it, as the markets knew the farmers didn’t have anywhere else to bring their produce. Mike and Michele witnessed this and felt like a change was needed. Hence, Fruited Plains was born.

Mike Robison is the CEO of Fruited Plains, a non-profit organization aimed to make the people of Mt Elgon self-sustainable by teaching them to cultivate crops besides maize. He explains getting the Kenyan people to learn growing different kinds of crops was a challenge, but the farmers really put their backs into it: “Given the fertility of the land we suggested they started growing the much more profitable passion fruit. To get these people started my wife and I, Michele, actually put our own savings into the organization. Luckily, some of our friends and business partners saw potential in what we were trying to do and donated money to help us venture even further.”

One of the problems the Kenyan farmers of Mt Elgon encountered, was the fact that markets were ripping them off, exploiting the fact these farmers had to walk all the way from the mountain to sell their produce locally. Because the farmers had nowhere else to go, the markets would offer them absurdly low prices: “We know of a man who was only able to feed his family once a day due to this kind of practices. We established a network of importers and with the help of our lorry and farm truck, the farmers now have options to sell their new passion fruit for fair prices. The same farmer is now able to give his family proper meals every day, is wearing respectable clothes and is even looking to buy himself some land,” Michele says.

Today over 220 farmers are connected with Fruited Plains and thanks to the network the organization has set up, produce is not just brought to a market, but exported to The United Kingdom and other countries in Europe. The company only retains 15% (the farmer receives the rest) to cover their operating costs and save up some money for any overhead that comes up. The money is always used to further develop the region, Mike explains: “We’re using this money to teach the farmers to grow even more crops. The farmers are learning to grow onions, potatoes and cabbages at a higher yield besides the passion fruit, and we’re trying to focus on avocados next. Farmers trust us and we have developed a good working relationship with the government, which makes our work a lot easier. This weekend, we’re having a meeting with one of the main buyers in Nairobi, which could help us sell more produce on behalf of the farmers as the number of farmers continues to increase. We’ve currently trained 1000 farmers to cultivate these crops, besides the 220 farmers we’re already working with.”

The people of Mt Eron have come a long way since 2003, and what started with a mission to help people can now be called a story of success: “We can confidently say that our farmers and our non-profit organization will be well on its way to being self-sustaining within the next 24 months’ time,” Michele resumed: “The people are starting to buy cows and other animals, are able to pay the school fees for their children and are able to feed their families. The fact the soil around Mt Eron is so fertile means the future looks bright with great quality crops that will help these villages reach their full potential. But our work is never done, as we can still provide a lot of training and technology to help the farmers. For instance, we’ve provided the traceability from plot to plate by using Farm Force from Syngenta to be as transparent as possible, which we feel is vital for the export market. Not only is the farm visible via Google Maps, you can actually see whenever our agronomist has been to the farm, or when sprayings and chemicals, if any, are used. And we're always looking to explore new markets on behalf of the farmers we represent!”

For more information;

Mike Robison

Fruited Plains

Email: info@fruitedplains.org