I have been Kalimoni Greens`s regular customer for two years now.
One day while I was driving on Ngong Road, name got my attention on the little shopping arcade in Karen. And since than, I give basket orders via email and they deliver my basket following day, such a convenience:) I love fresh organic produce, the smell and the taste, more important, using sustainable agriculture practices in the farm . Unfortunately, there is not high demand in Kenya for organic food, it is progressing slowly. In few years, I have no doubt it will double the numbers.
I have been planning to talk to Lilian for a long time and get her story behind organic farming. When I listened her story, was very impressed and amazed by her courage and love for farming. I had a chat with Lilian, hope you will find it interesting and informative.
1-Lilian, please tell us little bit about yourself? 'I am a mother of two, was born and raised in Nairobi. My parents owned a farm, and that's where I grow-up. I studied Financial Economics in UK and lived there for five years. Shortly after graduation, I returned back to Kenya, started to work as a banker. After few years working for major banks in Nairobi, I decided to continue my career in hotel business and worked in management for 13 years.
2- How and when did you start your business? "While I was working in hotel management, I never liked the food. Since we already had an organic farm (very small size by that time) I offered to bring some potatoes from our farm and hotel management loved it! Unfortunately, they were not willing to pay little bit of extra for organic produce but it gave me the courage to start my own business. With my father's encouragement, I have decided to open a store, (Kalimoni Greens is still located at the same location, Karen Park on Ngong Rd). Because I was in hotel management for 13 years, I had quite amount of customer base already, and they became my first customers. Every month, I have started to plant new vegetables and fruits into my farm and implemented organic farming practices from the very first day. I also employed a great team of people from Kenya Institute of Organic Farming. When I started my business, which was seven years ago, Karen was further away, so I decided to do "door to door" delivery, and my customers loved it! When we started our company, we were only three people, now we are a company of 8 and growing! Kalimoni Greens has 80 number of veggies/fruits certified as "organic"."
3- What is organic farming? What are the differences between regular farming and organic farming?
"Basic difference between conventional and organic farming is, in organic farming there are no chemical fertilisers, hormones, GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) and pesticides. In organic produce there are no chemicals, in the preparation there is little additives as possible. Organic does not only taste different it also has a more different look of it, such as veggies and fruits are not in perfect colours and shapes! Organic eggs are easy to see the difference, conventional ones are same colours and same sizes, organic egg comes with different colours and sizes and yolk is purely yellow. Especially in organic poultry, there are strict limits on GMO, antibiotics and hormones. Remember the word 'free range', it means chickens and chicks walk freely and behave naturally!"
4- Where is organic produce in Kenya now? "In a nut shell, Kenya has not more than 8000-10,000 hectares of organic farm. Unfortunately there are not many statistics out for public. We still need to do lots of work to do, such as putting new regulations and legislation in place.Organic farms are mainly located central and eastern parts of Kenya."
5- Who regulates organic farming in Kenya? And what are the requirements to be qualified as "organic farmer" in Kenya? "There are two agencies in place, Ministry of Agriculture and Kenya Organic Agricultural Network. It is half funded privately and half funded by the government. We, organic farmers, just recently had a meeting with government agency to regulate the organic farming, in Kenya. Now, organic farming certification is done by private organisation called "Encert". For example, our farm has been inspected by Encert. Kalimoni Greens practise has been checked, if we do the business by the standards, and we have these visit on a regular basis."
6-Where do you see organic produce in Kenya in next five years? "We, organic farmers, plan to reach to Kenyan people, to make sure they understand the importance of eating organic produce. We also want to increase the hectare of organic farming. We would like to empower people and give resource back to organic farming.
Personally, I would like to increase my customer base, provide more jobs to Kenyan people, make organic produce prices cheaper, than I can reach higher number of customers, and I also plan to extend my business to other regions."
For more information, please visit http://www.kalimonigreens.com/
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