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Winfrida Kasambu Muvea Cotton Framer in Kitui. [Charity Mukono-Standard]
For nearly a decade, Winfrida Kasambu Muvea fought a losing battle with her cotton. Bollworms chewed through her crop. Pesticides ate into her already thin margins. In a good season, her three-acre farm in Chuluni village, Kitui County, produced about 500 kilograms of cotton, earning her about Sh26,000 a year. The work was demanding, but the returns barely justified the effort.
Today, the same farm tells a different story. Kasambu harvests more than 1,400 kilos of cotton per season, twice a year. She has become one of Kitui's best-known farmer advocates, advising fellow farmers, speaking at agricultural forums across Kenya and leading a farmer group of 82 members.
The transformation did not happen by chance. It came from combining modern agricultural science with a centuries old farming practice that had almost been forgotten.
