Why Meru goats are chewing miraa

Goats in Meru are living in good times; they have a new addition to their menu, miraa! The crop, associated with the lush highlands of Meru and surrounding areas, and which turned farmers into millionaires, has today become so worthless, goats are now being fed on it. It never used to be this way; goats stuck to their grass and shrub staple, and miraa, gold to the farmers, was shipped abroad, where it fetched handsome profits.

All this changed in June this year, when the UK government slapped a ban on miraa exported to that country. This has had a negative effect on prices. “The situation is very bad now. This is in spite of the heavy rains that increase production of miraa. It is unfortunate that we have nowhere to take our bountiful harvests,” laments Edward Mutuura, chairman of the Nyambene Miraa Traders Association.

“The UK market was the gateway to other European markets, including Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, as well as Scotland and Ireland. We had a huge market and miraa farmers raised happy families. We gave our children the best clothes, food and other needs. They are now finding it difficult to pay school fee for their children. The UK market was our lifeline, and now we feel life being snuffed out of us,” lamented Mutuura.

Consumed locally

Farmers are left with no choice but to feed it to their goats. “The ban and lack of alternative markets is forcing farmers to feed their miraa to goats. We have nowhere to take it,” says Mutuura. The upper zones comprising Laare, Mutuate, Kangeta and Muringene have most of their miraa consumed locally and in neighbouring countries like Somalia. “Many farmers here are replacing their miraa with coffee and tea crops,” he says.

It is estimated that miraa farmers and traders are losing Sh10 million per day, as a result of the UK’s ban that took effect on July 24 this year. Miraa exports to London usually came from the lower lying areas of Athiri Gaiti, Kiengu, Kiutine, Antubetwe Kiongo and Kawiru. These areas produced the gizza type of the crop that fetches good money. Now the farmers are getting increasingly desperate.

“A 10 kilo carton of gizza was going for Sh25,000. During the high season, we could export up to 5,000 cartons of gizza. Now that the UK market is closed, we are forced to sell it locally at a throwaway price,” said Mutuura adding that even after paying up to £ 20 (Sh2,800) as VAT, they still made tidy profits. He explains that the same carton of gizza is currently fetching Sh15,000 locally.

High season

The British Government’s decision to ban miraa in their country is hurting an entire county. Miraa farmers in Meru County, where the crop is the main source of income, have been economically crippled and their very existence is now at stake. It is now December, the miraa high season when harvests are bountiful. Everywhere you go in the northern parts of Meru, you are greeted by the sight of fleshy twigs of the stimulant that has fed the Meru economy and community for generations.

To the Meru people, miraa is everything, especially for inhabitants of the northern region. Farmers share millions of dollars from sales to international and local markets. Palatial homes in the villages are an indication of how lucrative miraa has been. Its importance cannot be underestimated.

To underline that fact, there are farmers who do not take their children to school, others pull them out of school, so that they can work on miraa farms. “My three children are successful businessmen in Maua, yet none of them went beyond Class Eight. People go to school so that they can get an education and succeed in life. What is the need of taking children to high school and university if they can achieve that by growing miraa?” poses Kinoti  M’Mwirabua, a prominent farmer and trader at Mutuate.

Things are not so rosy now, though. Despite this being the traditionally a happy season for miraa farmers, happy faces are few and far between, thanks to the ‘punitive’ directive from the UK.

 The high production has seen prices fall drastically. “A kilo of gizza used to be sold at Sh1,000, but now it is going for just Sh300. As farmers harvest more, prices will fall to as low as Sh100,” moans Mutuura. “While that is good news for local consumers, it is bad news for producers,” he said.  Kangeta, a popular type of miraa, is now going for as low as Sh40. “It is because most of it used to be exported to the Netherlands and the UK. Then, we sold a kilo for Sh500, so for us to sell the same at Sh40 is a clear indication of how bad things are. The UK has killed miraa farmers, and traders,” he adds. Kangeta was particularly very popular with consumers in the UK.

He claims that today, people who could not afford miraa have taken to chewing it on a daily basis, because it is now within the reach of their pockets. “It is now very cheap. The number of daily consumers has increased drastically, but that does not make us any happier because the selling price is terrible. It is not a laughing matter,” he adds. “The number of people from Samburu, Borana and Kamba communities who now chew miraa has suddenly shot up.

Miraa has become so cheap that everyone is now able to buy loads of shurba. A shurba is a bunch of miraa stems.

Tougher times

 Mutuura says miraa growers and traders should brace themselves for tougher times ahead. “Things will get worse between December and March because we are having a lot of rain now and production is high. Because of bountiful harvests, the prices will drastically come down, and you will get a kilo of miraa for as low as Sh50. Farmers will have to feed their livestock on miraa, because they will have nowhere to take it,” said Mutuura.