Miraa farmer Joseph Muturia of Laare, Meru County, is a troubled man. Since export of the produce to Somalia was banned a year ago, earnings from the crop have dwindled to a level he would never have imagined. He previously sold Sh400,000 worth of khat monthly. Today, he barely earns Sh50,000. Twisting the knife For Mr Muturia, like for the other farmers in miraa growing zones in Igembe and Tigania, the pain of having to harvest the crop only to throw it away is twisting the knife on his back.
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Besides lack of market for the produce, farmers are also incurring losses since the twigs must be harvested to ensure they don't overgrow and spoil the tree branches. "We've to hire people to harvest although most of [the crop] is thrown away," Mr Muturia says. This, he says, "is because the trees are like tea bushes, which must be plucked and pruned, whether it's delivered to the factory or not. This ensures the trees remain productive." With the ban on miraa export to Somalia, the main market, farmers have been left with tonnes of the produce going to waste and losses exceeding Sh16 million a day, according to data compiled by the Nyambene Miraa Traders Association (Nyamita). When the ban was imposed due to diplomatic differences between the two countries, farmers thought the matter would be resolved swiftly. "But things have worsened and the future of this crop is now uncertain," Mr Muturia said. In recent days, Kenya and Somalia have taken steps to normalise relations, but ...
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