Flight Ban Takes Heavy Toll On Khat Farming

[Jacpher]

The Nation (Nairobi)

NEWS

December 20, 2006

Posted to the web December 20, 2006

 

By Muchemi Wachira

Nairobi

 

For the past three weeks, Mr Joseph Kirigia has been watching his three-acre miraa (khat) farm in dismay, pained that the mature twigs are going to waste.

 

Traders at maua town prepare miraa for export but have nowhere to sell now that the Mogadishu ban still haunts them.

 

The 55-year-old man has been unable to pluck the twigs from his tall trees as other farmers are doing - not to sell them but to save the trees from possible destruction.

 

"It's too much work for an old man like me. My children are small and heavily dependent on me. I cannot afford to hire labour for a venture that is not immediately rewarding," he says.

 

Since planting his miraa shrubs more than 15 years ago, Mr Kirigia has been relatively prosperous in Ngawene village of Igembe division, Meri North district. He had a monthly income of Sh35,000 to Sh50,000.

 

"It was enough to feed myself, wife and nine children. But this month I have not earned anything as there is no market for the twigs."

 

Nonetheless, he should pluck the overgrown twigs to allow the trees to sprout new ones. Otherwise, the thick twigs will ruin his trees.

 

Plucking the trees is costly as the twigs will be destroyed. This is what many miraa farmers in Meru North district are doing.

 

But with four of his children in primary school, and the cost of their upkeep high, Mr Kirigia has more pressing matters than plucking useless twigs.

 

Fortunes began to wane for the farmer, and for many local residents, a month ago after a ban was slapped on miraa flights to Somalia, followed by outlawing of the twig in the capital Mogadishu and other areas controlled by hard-line Islamists.

 

The Government barred flights to Somalia early last month over security concerns. Then a prohibition was imposed on miraa by Islamist courts that control the capital and many parts of the country.

 

It is like the drying up of a permanent well. Convinced that it is a secure source of livelihood, many people in Meru have not constructed a reservoir - an alternative to miraa trade.

 

For instance, farmers in Meru North district rarely intercrop miraa with food crops.

 

"We receive good money from the herb, which we use up immediately, convinced that there will be more the following month as long as miraa is available in the farm. Things have now changed," he says.

 

Not just miraa farmers are affected. As the crop is the economic mainstay of the district, all the other sectors are affected. There is too little money now to go around.

 

The chairman of Nyambene Miraa Traders Association, Mr Julius Mwereria, says the crop fetches at least Sh64 million annually. "It is the main source of livelihood here," he notes.

 

Since November 12 when the Government banned flights to Somalia, life has not been the same for local people. Even supplementary businesses are suffering. Hotel and restaurant owners in Mutuati and Igembe divisions say their ventures are collapsing.

 

"We might have to close down soon," says the proprietor of Al Sadiq Hotel in Maua town, Mr Abdirizak Maalim. The hotel was established by his family several years ago. It is heavily dependent on miraa business. Brokers, transporters and other dealers converge there to arrange for transport of miraa to other parts of Kenya and the world. Some of the twigs are transported to Nairobi, Mombasa and other towns, but about 80 per cent are taken to Wilson Airport for flight to Mogadishu.

 

"Until last month when the ban was imposed, we had many customers. They used to come at any hour, even at night. But today we have less than five clients," Mr Maalim said last week. Maua is the district headquarters of Meru North. The impact of the ban is not as high here.

 

In the densely populated Mutuati division, many people are now idle. Yet so big were its bazaars on market days that one would confuse them for political rallies.

 

The trading centres of Meru North district, together with Maua Town, attracted investors from all parts of the country who set up impressive businesses. The situation is radically different now. Bazaars are still visible in the centres of Mutuati division, but minus huge volumes of customers.

 

"We idle the time at the market, hoping for work or other opportunities to come up," says miraa broker Stanley Kubai. He is usually based at Laare trading centre. He says a number of people who depended on miraa trade have now turned into crooks. "Robbery is on the increase, unlike the case when trade in miraa boomed."

 

"We are still selling miraa to Mombasa and Nairobi, our next big markets," says Kubai, 39. We must look for other markets or businesses for our upkeep.

 

At the nearby green grocers market in Laare centre, one of the women traders, Bridget Kananu, said: "I have sold only 20 bananas since morning. It is already 2pm.

 

She said she sold at least 1,000 bananas a day early last month when miraa trade was prosperous. "Soon, I might be unable to bring up my six-year-old child," she said.

 

Miraa grown in Kaelo is sold mainly in Europe, but traders feel the pinch as some of it went to Mogadishu. Officials of Nyambene Miraa Traders Association say the European market is not as reliable as the Somalia one.

 

"The main problem is transport (to Europe). One has to charter aircraft, which is very expensive, as Kenya Airways does not transport miraa," said Mr Mwereria.

 

A hotel owner at the market, Mr David Ithalii, 44, says there has been a sharp decline in business over the past three weeks.

 

And miraa trader Abukaridere Mohammed, who operates between the centre and Nairobi, says he has lost Sh8 million due to the ban. "I had sold miraa worth that money (Sh8 million) when the ban was imposed. The money is yet to be sent to me." The 50-year-old man from Garissa district owes miraa growers in the area Sh3 million.

 

On December 6, officials of the miraa association appealed to the Government, through local district commissioner Athumani Shauri, to look into their plight.

 

If the ban on flights to Somalia is not lifted by January, they said, they would need relief food. They said miraa is the local cash crop. Many parents will not be able to pay schools fees for their children, besides proving them with other material upkeep.

 

On December 7, Mr Shauri relayed the traders' concern to Eastern provincial commissioner David Jakaiti. He said families' incomes had dwindled while crime was on the rise.

 

"Farmers are plucking overgrown twigs for destruction, lest the trees slump or fall owing to unwanted branches. It is an expensive exercise," Mr Shauri said.

 

Source