Traveling the LastMile in Kenya

Grace Njeri Kamau just finished milking her cows at her small family farm on the hills overlooking Lake Naivasha. “When I came here, I had a dream,” she shares. Grace and her husband David Kinyanjui Giathi own a small plot of land of less than three acres on which they farm kale, spinach, and other crops. For Grace, the dream she had since she first saw the farm her husband inherited was being able to sell the milk from her own cows to the local market and improve her family’s life. In particular, to finance her children’s education and give them brighter prospects.

Even in a fertile region like Nakuru County, above East Africa’s Great Rift Valley, three acres is not enough land to provide for the livelihood of a family of six on crops alone. To support them and their four daughters, Grace has been working the farm, while David drives a Matatu taxi on the dangerous roads towards Nairobi. The job often takes him long distances away from the farm, limiting the time he is able to spend with the family.

Building capacity for underserved communities

For Grace, turning her dreams of improving her family’s lives into reality proved to be more challenging than she had anticipated. “We went to Nyandarua County and bought a cow that was already older. We were told it would produce 10 liters, but when we brought it home, it only produced two liters. We had to sell it at a loss. But with Serah’s help, we got to start again and bought the cow we have now.” Serah Gatheru works as a LastMile Livestock Service Provider (LLSP) with the LastMile program. For two years she has been regularly visiting the farm and has advised Grace and David on how to keep their animals healthy and productive.

Since the program’s launch in 2018, LLSPs like Serah have engaged thousands of farmers. The LLSPs act as a central connection point between the farmers, veterinarians, and local retailers of animal health products to build a network able to support the community’s animal health needs. The program seeks to engage groups of farmers and co-operatives to generate a broad reach and connect as many farmers as possible to service providers. To the smallholder farmers mostly living in remote areas that are often underserved by veterinarians and that lack other animal health resources, what LLSPs bring first and foremost, is vital knowledge, as David explains: “LastMile has significant impact as an educational program that enables access to information. The power of knowledge is the biggest gift we can give. Each farmer will be educated on how to feed his animals, what role genetics plays, how to improve productivity, and how to best take care of their livestock. When we set out, we had hoped to reach 30,000 farmers, but now we have reached over 40,000.”

Empowering individuals to strengthen entire communities

Though this may seem like an individual success, it benefits the surrounding farmers as well. Prevalent diseases like mastitis or foot and mouth disease are often transmitted between farms, so that multiple farms are affected simultaneously. This can lead to drastic drops in productivity, thus endangering the livelihoods of the entire community.

Through education, access to resources, and a supportive network, LastMile empowers smallholder farmers to improve their livelihoods. Enhancing their productivity and connecting farmers with vital services creates lasting positive change for this underserved group. “The local community are good, hard-working people that want to utilize the little land they have well. We are introducing our neighbors to LastMile, and the benefits speak for themselves.” Together with LastMile, Grace has set an example the community is looking up to.