The Green World

The "Green World" project in Kenya
Virtually no other country provides such a good example as Kenya of the Food Chain Partnership developed by Bayer. Agriculture is one of the country’s most important sources of revenue. Around 5 million small-scale farmers and their families live from the production of its most important export crops, coffee, tea and flowers, although vegetables such as beans, mangetout peas and corn on the cob, and bananas, pineapples, coconuts and other exotic fruits have also become increasingly important over the last few years. Food Chain Partnership concept of Bayer CropScience “Concerted effort to achieve safe fruit and vegetables” 80% of those in employment work in agriculture, which in 2005 accounted for just over 57% of the national income. However, only 20% of the surface area of about 225.000 square miles which make up the country are suitable for agriculture. Small-scale farming and a very few large landowners determine the structure. It is the smallest farmers, however, who are most lacking in knowledge and who are faced with major logistical problems. Against this background, and in view of the growing demands of the major export markets in Europe in terms of food safety, the development of training programs and the provision of knowledge in the cultivation of fruit and vegetables acquire a whole new dimension. In this way the German company is reducing the risk to humans and to production, for example as a result of the use of illegal substances from dubious sources. More and more counterfeit active substances are finding their way on-to the market in Kenya, often leading to uncontrollable consequences. In order to prevent this process and to ensure greater protection of the environment and the health of people and plants, Bayer started the “Green World” project in the summer of 2006. “Our aim was not to address the big landowners, but to start right where there was the greatest lack of knowledge. We wanted to intensify our dialog with the small farmers as part of good agricultural practice,” emphasized Hans Joachim Wegfahrt, Managing Director Bayer East Africa ltd, and Dr. Ulrich Zillekens, Global Food Chain Manager, Bayer CropScience, in conversation with Fruchthandel magazine. Hans Joachim Wegfahrt is managing the project on the ground. Key strategies first had to be developed in order to ensure the sustainability of the project. Bayer CropScience wanted to find the best way of involving the smallest farmers in the project. “It seemed most sensible to us to start where the small farmers buy their fertilizers and pesticides.” The “Green World” project is therefore directed very specifically towards the small traders who are established in the villages. “These small shops have a key function in enabling important information to reach the producers. It is where they make their purchases from trusted individuals that village gossip is exchanged,” stressed Wegfahrt. There are currently around 2,000 of these small traders in Kenya. Bayer CropScience initially started the project in the area around Mount Kenya, a narrow, fertile belt of land used predominantly for vegetable and corn production. These products are mainly exported. Thirty traders were involved in the first stage of the project. “We developed training programs to provide these traders with the necessary knowledge for correct handling of the fertilizers and pesticides developed by Bayer CropScience.” The response to the training surprised the experts. The training programs were taken up with great enthusiasm and an even greater thirst for knowledge. Apart from information on the active substances and their use, they include advice on cultivation, information on “good agricultural practice”, and the development of specific spraying plans. The company supplies its products in practical packaging with instructions for use, and the packs can be disposed of in an environmentally appropriate way. The training provided most of the traders for the first time with basic knowledge of the methods of good agricultural practice and correct modern crop protection, which they passed on to their customers with the same enthusiasm. “In this way, the producers are much more easily convinced and instructed than if a company representative arrives in the village to teach them complex subject matter, with the main aim of selling them a company’s products,”emphasized Dr. Zillekens.So far, up to 3,000 visitors have attended each of the field days organized by Bayer CropScience and went away with extensive information about the products and their uses. “The enthusiasm there is surprisingly high, giving us an excellent basis on which to build,” said Wegfahrt. Traders and producers need to feel that it is worthwhile in the longer term to work professionally with the correct products. “Our company builds a bridge to the consumer – it is the expertise which others do not have which we are able to offer.” Bayer CropScience also involves seed producers, ex-porters and the national ministry of agriculture in the Food Chain Partnership to ensure that each stage of the supply side is included in the project. “In this way we are working together to bring consumers safe and healthy fruit and vegetable products.” “It is vitally important that the farming structures with their village routines are maintained. This is the only way to halt the development of slums in the towns, to guarantee food for the population, and to build up a successful export business,” Dr. Zillekens pointed out. “We offer innovative products for an approach to crop protection which is completely different to the techniques in use even ten years ago,” he continued. Bayer Crop Science has developed active ingredients which no longer have to be sprayed on but are taken up by the roots of the plant and transported to the site of the problem. This guarantees greater protection of the environment, plants and also humans. plants and also humans. To give the traders an even greater incentive to take part in the Green World project, 5 traders are being invited to travel to Berlin to Fruit Logistica, where Bayer CropScience will be presenting the project. The Kenyan shop-owners will report their experiences to a broad international specialist audience and describe the success that they have achieved with the “Green World”