My names are Bramwel Krembu Cheroben. I am 24 years of age and belong to a beautiful family of 10 children; five girls and five boys with I being the lastborn and both my parents are still there. My parents, Mr. and Mrs. Cheroben are retired officers of The Salvation Army church where they worked for more than 30 years. They were enjoying their retirement until November 2009 when my mother was discovered to be suffering from throat cancer. It was a very sad moment but God stood with us. She underwent an operation where her voice box had to be removed since it was badly infected. She was successfully operated on and underwent a series of radiotherapy sessions to kill the cancer cells. Right now she is much better and even though she is voiceless, she is still soldiering on for those who love and adore her very much. I cleared my secondary education in 2008 and served as a school captain in Chavakali High School from 2007-2008.My interest in farming started developing in 2010 when my sister Esther started rearing commercial layers from kenchic. As I assisted her manage the chicken, and got to learn a lot concerning vaccinating and general management of poultry. She also constructed a tomato green house and due to my interest and a lot of online research I quickly learnt how things get done in green house farming. It was a very profitable venture but expansion was a problem for her since in Eldoret land is very expensive. I moved to my native land in MT. Elgon with one goal, and that was to build my own business empire founded in agriculture. I settled upcountry with my parents and since we possess about 20 acres of land here, I stand a good chance to perfect on my projects and do a lot of expansion and be of help financially to my aging parents. Since land is available and there is an all year round river flowing within our territories, farming couldn’t be any better. I opted to venture into farming because it is very profitable should one invest wisely and its an honest job. I wanted to do something different and create employment for others rather than being bitter with life since I couldn’t secure a well paying white collar job or even risk losing my job any time. In farming you are your own boss and it’s a very flexible venture. My father rears cattle in the farm and also practices crop farming with maize being the main crop being grown. I want to change this farm through practicing modern farming and by being able to do irrigation during the dry season to maximize our returns. I know its not an easy job transforming this land into a modern and highly productive land but I believe beyond any reasonable doubt that I am up to the task because getting started is normally the biggest challenge and since I already have both my feet on the ground and with the support of my family a positive change is slowly being realized.

I have been in Agri-business since 2011 when I relocated to my upcountry home in MT. Elgon District, Bungoma county. I have been very passionate about farming for years and my determination to build my own business empire founded in agriculture, led me to my native land in Elgon because of availability of land. Agriculture is all about land and since we own 20 acres or so of land here and water is always available, I saw a perfect place to execute my projects even though I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy journey. Just like any other business, farming has many challenges. Before I managed to put up my green house, I used to practice open field tomato farming. I encountered many problems growing tomatoes in the open field because of the unpredictable weather changes which cause diseases to the crop especially when there is too much rain, hail stones and also fog. The tomatoes also get attacked by pests and even when they are ready for harvest, birds come to feed on the tomato fruits before you harvest them. It is for these reasons that I saw it wise to construct a green house where I can comfortably grow high breed tomatoes that are protected from adverse weather conditions and a long time quality harvest is assured. I spent twenty eight thousand Kenyan shillings to buy the green house polythene paper that was going to enable me construct a fifteen meters long by six meters wide green house. The green house has a carrying capacity of six hundred seedlings. I have planted high breed tomatoes known as Anna F1 and im guaranteed a whole year harvest under good management. I have an upper hand with this project here in MT.Elgon because not so many people have ventured into green house production. Many people who grow tomatoes here practice open field tomato production and its always seasonal and that means I have a good market opportunity because green house tomatoes are healthy and my clients will be assured of a constant supply whole year round

Apart from tomato production, im also engaged in poultry farming. I purchased ten local hens and a good rooster from my neighbors for a start. I keep local hens for eggs and meat production. Local hen meat is selling well because it is very nutritious just like the eggs but the venture also comes along with many challenges. The birds take almost six to eight months before maturing and ready to lay eggs, and that is a very long time. The other thing about this poultry farming that has been posing a challenge is that I practice free range poultry farming where the hens roam around fending for themselves and as a result they come in contact with unvaccinated neighbors’ flock hence they get infections and die eventually. Also as a result of too much roaming, some hens end up laying eggs in bushes causing me a loss and even some get attacked by roaming dogs and get killed. Egg laying when it comes to these local hens is not assured since they rarely lay eggs on daily basis. It is for these reasons that I now want to fully commercialize my poultry project and this means getting good layers from Kenchic that I’m able to feed indoors, vaccinate and im assured of daily egg collection. I already have a good spacious poultry house that has a concrete floor and proper roofing just awaiting stocking. I must confess that I have done a lot and made some achievements including buying my own Friesian heifer from my little savings. All I need right now is somebody or an organization that will believe in me and give me the financial support I need to upgrade my projects and transform this farm. If I get funded with fifty thousand Kenyan shillings, i can start with 100-150 layers and sustain them for four months until they start laying eggs hence the project becomes self sufficient. I’m doing all this so that apart from attaining my financial

My plan is to purchase a good and fuel economical motorbike,that apart from generating extra income for me through transportation, it will help me deliver chicks to my clients and my animal feeds too. This is a working strategy for me since I spend a lot of money on transportation of feeds to my farm and ready chicks to clients. With this motorbike,it will be a matter of fueling it,and getting the job done on time. I will also create another employment opportunity for a fellow youth who will be doing the transportation job as I run the poultry project. Both project will greatly increase my income and my dependants will have an easier life too.