Nakuru school with interesting balance between education and agriculture
Rongai Boys high school encourages agriculture among its students.
Located about 20 kilometres from Nakuru City, Rongai Agri-Tech Secondary School sits on 30- acres of land.
The school has maximized 12 acres for farming activities and a spot check on the farm reveals a variety of livestock as well as crops blossoming.
In fact, the school that now stands unique in the area and Nakuru County as a whole has over 100 cattle, 100 sheep, 50 pigs, and 400 poultry, among them chicken, turkeys, geese and 30 rabbits.
The cabbage plantation at Rongai boys. The school depends on its own farm produce to feed its students and members of the faculty.
It has also ventured into crop farming with huge plantations of cabbages, spinach, bananas, potatoes, maize, beans, sukuma wiki (kales) and African Indigenous Vegetables.
In an interview, the school’s Director Brother Paul Anderson says the farm has been key in supplying the institution with agricultural produce.
Rongai Boys school Director Brother Paul Anderson.
“We are proud of what we are doing as we cannot have shortage be it milk or vegetables. Our cows here produce over 10 litres each where the school requires only 400 litres per day,” he says.
According to him, rabbits that are reared on the farm are for biology lessons.
The administrator adds that the farm, which is as old as the 50-year institution, has been transformed over the decades to serve both as an agribusiness school and to supply students, teachers and staff with most of their food needs.
Here, labour is supplied by students with Form Three students, taking turns as the farm’s manager.
The income generated is then banked in an independent account.
This has seen many students in the school develop interest in matters of agriculture which is the backbone of the country’s economy.
“What we are doing here will go a long way in cultivating the spirit of agriculture among youth who have in the past viewed agriculture as a venture for the low in society,” he says.
The farm is currently incorporating emerging agricultural technologies, mechanization and practical approaches.
Benson Kamau is an alumni of the school having left in 1985.
Benson Kamau, a Rongai boys alumni.
"Young people can transform the agricultural sector by applying new technologies and new thinking. Ultimately, this translates to more farm production," he says.
The School’s Captain Master Japheth Onchwati notes that the farm has built the capacity of students and surrounding communities in practicing sustainable agriculture.