How Old is CNM

Our parents purchased the farmland in 1967. At the time of purchase, it was just a parcel of land filled with bush, totally uncultivated and stretched all the way from the railway line down to the river Khalaba, a total of 13 acres.

After clearing some of the bush and undergrowth, our parents first planted some eucalyptus trees on approximately half an acre of the farm. The trees were shortly followed by the first crop of maize to be planted. This was done on the side of the farm closest to the railway line. At this time there did not exist the current road coming from Kanduyi and going Bungoma into town and onto Mumias town.

It was not until 1971 that the road was put in place by the then government.

In the 1980’s, our parents started to experiment with dairy cows. Like all else on the farm, this was carried out on a subsistence level. By now the farm was under the day to day management of our mum, since the rest of the family was in Nairobi. Our mum also tried her hand at sheep and goat rearing. This however, was an unsuccessful. The sheep were stolen. She woke up one morning and all five of them were gone! She cannot remember what happened to the goats. During this period in time, we the children used to make what is termed as “technical” appearances on the farm, during school and festive season holidays.

It wasn’t until 2017 that I started to make frequent appearances on the farm, on and off. In 2018, I shifted my base of operations from Nairobi, where I had lived all my life, to Bungoma, and started giving the farm a more focused attention.

My first attempt at farming was the investment in a pigsty, in November, 2018. The first pig landed in December 2018 and gave birth on 9^th January, 2019, to a batch of 9 piglets.

Sadly, our dad passed away in 2019.

All this time the farm did not have a name. It was known to the locals as the Oluta home.

We the children decided to give it a name and settled on, CNM Farm.

We are now looking to expand and commercialize the farm.