The green gold of Shinyalu

Maurice Abung’ana is a man with options. This was not always the case.

In the past, this farmer in Shinyalu sub-county in Western Kenya could rarely meet his family’s needs through his maize harvest.

Today, he breathes easy, assured of a decent income without excessive effort.

Maurice’s home in Shelelo Village, Isecheno, borders the Nyayo Tea Zone at the fringe of Kakamega Forest.

On the advice of  Muliru Farmers’ Conservation Group, he carved out a 0.12-acre plot from his maize patch in a corner of his homestead.

On it, he planted esilokha (also called mwonyi), a prolific plant that grows wild along road verges and in the forest and is commonly considered as a weed.

LOCAL DIALECT

This decision changed his life.

It turns out this “weed” is African blue basil (scientific name ocimum kilimandscharicum), a powerful insect repellent.

You could call this woody herb the green gold of this sub-county, considering that it has uplifted the living standards of the locals.

“I love this work, and to think we never knew the benefits of this plant,” says Maurice. “This crop has helped my family, and it is so easy to care for since it grows by itself.”

His tiny plot yields 600 kilogrammes of ocimum three times a year.

He sells a kilogramme for Sh10 to Muliru Farmers’ Conservation Group.

Muliru means forest in the local dialect, and the work of the community-based organisation reflects the essence of conservation: enabling people to benefit from safeguarding the wealth of the rich natural resource in their vicinity.

To stop the practice of harvesting the widely used indigenous medicinal plant from the forest and exacerbating ecosystem degradation, Nairobi-based International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, ICIPE, devised a method of helping farmers grow it on their own smallholdings and make money.

The wet leaf is supplied to the processing plant on MFCG premises.

The community-based group collects the harvested leaf from farmers within a 30-kilometre radius of Isecheno.

They also supply seeds to registered growers, who later harvest seeds from their crop and sell these back to the enterprise at the wholesale price of Sh20 per teaspoonful.

A demonstration plot adjacent to the processing plant provides a training ground in good practices for optimum use of farmers’ smallholdings.

Organic growing and companion planting are emphasised, since ocimum is a natural pesticide on the farm and keeps bugs at bay.

Reaching a height of up to two metres, ocimum is a plant that keeps on giving as an initial plant can produce for five years.

Sown in a seed bed, it germinates in eight weeks. Once transplanted to a prepared bed, it takes four months to mature.

“To harvest, you simply cut it six inches from the base and it then regenerates,” explains Maurice.

Traditionally, ocimum has always been valued for its medicinal properties.

The leaves can be boiled in a pan with a tight-fitting lid and the resultant steam inhaled as a cure for colds.

Some simply rub the leaves between the palms and sniff the released oils as relief from colds and coughs.

The leaves can also be pounded, soaked in warm water and the liquid drunk to treat abdominal pains.

The herb provides yet another indigenous remedy for measles in babies when the pounded leaves are soaked in warm water which is used to bathe the child.

The stems of the plant are used as fuel wood which produces the mosquito repellent smoke.

Today, the industrial distillation machine set up with the support of ICIPE and other partners at the MFCG premises is used for processing the dried leaf to extract the strong-smelling camphor essential oil.

The extract is the active ingredient that is used in formulating commercial ointments for repelling mosquitoes and other pest control products.

It is also used in formulating products for relieving coughs, chest congestion and muscular aches.

MARKETING ACTIVITIES

These products, going by the brand name Naturub, are marketed by MFCG nationwide.

James Ligare, as the ICIPE liaison officer, oversees the marketing activities of the enterprise in collaboration with MFCG chair John Atsango.

Mr Ligare has received numerous international awards on behalf of MFCG for combining conservation with poverty reduction.

The most recent award, sweetened by a one million shilling financial endowment, was presented by First Lady Margaret Kenyatta at Nairobi’s Safari Park Hotel early this month.

“The uses of this plant are many,” he says. “We even blend the leaves with lemon grass and package it in sachets for sale as a beverage.”

Marita Lumiti has been an active member of MFCG since 1997.

A farmer, in addition to being one of the operators of the enterprise’s distillation machine, this mother of five has, like Abung’ana, experienced a dramatic upturn in her family’s fortunes.

LOW INCOME

“For many years, we struggled to eke out a living by cultivating tea, bananas and maize on our one-acre parcel of land,” she says. “The income was extremely low and life was a struggle.”

Marita and her family now allocate half of their parcel of land to ocimum.

“I used to harvest less than one bag of maize, which was not enough to feed my family. Using the proceeds from the cultivation of ocimum, I am now able to educate our children,” she says.

In a country where the fortunes of rural small-scale farmers are unstable, a positive model that can be replicated using non-traditional plants can only serve to provide a glimmer of hope for financial security.