I arrived in Kenya on Wednesday afternoon, on the 13th of September and was met by my host Sarah Flowers. We drove through the city of Nairobi and I was taken aback by the beautiful treescapes which covered the city, not dissimilar to Central Park in New York.

After a full on two-weeks of non-stop meetings and visits, I had a quiet day planned for the Thursday and caught up on writing, emails and chatted with Sarah about her fascinating journey, growing up in Tanzania, studying in the UK and even completing her PHD within the forestry sector in none other than Aberdeen. She is now living in Thika, Kenya, where she has been for the past ten years, along with her husband Chris, who is the Managing Director of one of the biggest farming operations in Kenya, known as Kakuzi Farms PLC.

Sarah and Chris are wonderful hosts and have three very cuddly and naughty Labradors called Basil, Wallace, and Frank, so I am kept well entertained. One of the hardest things about travelling for many weeks is losing any form of daily routine, but staying here with Chris and Sarah, I have loved partaking in their 5pm walk every evening, where cold beers are cracked open, and they walk the dogs around their beautiful gardens.  Each time we take this walk, I am amazed by the changes in the trees, with the most beautiful jacaranda’s and bougainvillea’s you have ever seen, increasingly coming into bloom.

I’ve been learning a lot more about some of the indigenous trees here in Kenya but also about the eucalyptus plantations which surround the farm and supply timber for their impressive commercial forestry operation. It is amazing that eucalyptus trees can grow to maturity in lass than ten years - comparable to Sitka spruce plantations,  a fast growing conifer tree, native to the west coast of North America, which make up 50% of commercial plantations in the UK.

Both trees have sparked controversy amongst local populations in recent years who favour indigenous hardwood trees.  This has led to a conflict between between building on commercial forestry efforts and planting and protecting hardwoods. It is so interesting that our countries may be 6,000 miles apart but instances like this, highlight similar attitudes and conflicts.

​Today I met with an inspiring Tanzanian farmer, Sarah Mandara Jones, who is transforming pig farming in the Moshi region.
 
She began eight years ago by looking at how she could improve the quality of her pigs, as traditional methods were making no return for farmers locally.
 
She started experimenting with genetics from pigs in Europe and has since developed a prestigious breeding programme, working with a network of 350 smallholder farmers who she supplies piglets to at three months old to be fattened.
 
She guarantees them a market and good price for their finished pigs at six months old, killing and processing them via her on-site abattoir and supplying their meat directly to local lodges in the Northern circuit of Tanzania.
 
Sarah has managed to add real value to the surrounding pig industry, using genetics to produce consistently high quality meat and working with local farming communities to provide a fair and stable Income.
 
She is also revolutionising the animal feed side of the business, having recently started exploring the benefits of insect protein. Her vision is a low-input, no-waste system with manure from the pigs being recycled back as a feed for black soldier fly larvae, which are then grown in small tubs and harvested at three weeks old. The larvae are then blended with bran and fed back to the pigs as part of a high protein diet - an amazing example of circular farming.
 
She explained that the BSF larvae increase in size from 1g to a staggering 5000g in just three weeks. In her current operation she has 12 lines which can hold 160 tubs containing 1kg of larvae. On a daily basis she produces 200kg of feed and 400kg of organic fertiliser.
 
She has conducted trials comparing protein content in soya and BSF larvae and found that there was 20% more protein in the larvae feed, with pigs performing better/growing quicker. 
 
The dream is to keep growing the business but equally to share her methods and journey with others and inspire more farmers to look at this circular approach, and recognise the huge economic, social and environmental benefits it brings.
 

I’ve had a wonderful weekend visit with Naweed and Nura Mulla, and their son Yabby, near Ubena Zomozi village, Chalinze - learning all about their sisal production and Boran cattle herd.
Naweed returned to the family farm nine years ago, after completing his studies in South Africa, for school, then pursuing economics in London, and has applied many of his learnings to the business.
One of the first things he did on his return to the farm was invest in cattle and over the past few years he has been building up his herd to around 2000 head, whilst continuously investing in top genetics.
Three years ago, he formed the Tanzanian Commercial Cattle Society, of which he is the chairman, and its membership currently accounts for 80% of all commercial farmers in the country.
 Naweed has the largest herd of Boran cattle in Tanzania, with most farmers in the country having small East African Shorthorn Zebu (EASZ), the indigenous cattle of the region. He told me there is little to no focus on genetics or improving efficiency by most farmers, with the majority of cattle slaughtered at around four years old or older.
Since investing in good genetics in his own herd, Naweed has been able to reduce average slaughter age to around three years old, selling cattle at 340kg deadweight. He told me there is no demand in Tanzania for meat to be hung for any length of time, all demand is for fresh meat. This is mostly due to the lack of refrigeration facilities and issues around blackouts, so most people are suspicious if they hear meat has been hung for anytime at all.

Animal Welfare

As we went for a tour around his cattle - which included meeting a buyer, who had come to select some new bulls - we discussed his unique approach to animal welfare. No staff are allowed to use sticks on the cattle, which I’m told is otherwise common practice here in Tanzania. Bull calves which are destined for fattening are castrated within their first week, because he doesn’t agree with the pushing method of castration, which is typically carried out at around eight months old and can result in stress and stunting of development.
Naweed wants to create a stress-free environment, so as not to affect the growth of his cattle, which has resulted in extremely placid and friendly livestock.
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Biosecurity Protocols

There are huge issues around disease in Tanzania, particularly foot and mouth disease and lumpy skin disease. It can be extremely difficult to enforce strict biosecurity measures due to the nomadic pastoral practices of surrounding Maasai tribes, who will often bring their cattle on to his land. To address this, strict security protocols take place overnight to stop cattle coming into contact with his and any animals which are bought into the herd are quarantined before joining. Naweed vaccinates for foot and mouth disease twice year and cattle are dosed five times annually, due to pressure from tick borne diseases which are mostly caried by wild buffalo populations.
 
Since enforcing these protocols, Naweed’s farm has now been identified by the Tanzanian Government to be one of three certified farms to explore selling meat into the export market, to help find a higher value market elsewhere. Currently importers are avoiding Tanzanian meat due to disease concerns, but this new programme should hopefully encourage more investment in the export market, to develop Tanzania’s meat offering. 

Sisal plants come from the agarve family and can be crushed into a very strong, sustainable and durable fibre which is traditionally used for ropes and mats.
 
At Highland Estates Limited, sisal production is the mainstay of the operation, with Naweed Mulla and his family growing around 4,000ac of the H66418 variety.
 
A huge amount of time and labour goes into the growing phase, from planting seedlings by hand, to cutting Individual leaves four years later - it’s a long-waiting game with the plant reaching optimum maturity around 8 years old.
 
Leaves are harvested by hand, crushed and washed through a process called decodication, to release the fibre.  Around 200,000litres of water are used in the cleaning process and 110 tonnes of fibre is produced daily.
 
The fibre strands are then dried in the sun for 24 hours before being brushed / de-tangled and packed to be sent for turning into a variety of products with the main demand coming from Saudia Arabia and China.
 
It was fascinating to hear that only 4% of the leaves are turned into fibre with the rest being utilised as a biological fertiliser on the farm. Work is underway to turn the waste into a more profitable output, watch this space!