David Tonui (2nd from left), visits with North Carolina State Office staff members (pictured l to r): Victor Youngblood, Alisha Bridges and Tim Jones.
By North Carolina Farm Service Agency Office
Kenyan school leader David Tonui visited the North Carolina Farm Service Agency as part of a visit to the United States to research how farm communities function.
“Tonui was amazed at the programs FSA has in place to supports agriculture in the United States,” said Eddie Woodhouse, FSA public affairs specialist in North Carolina. He was especially surprised about the conservation programs, disaster assistance, and backing for beginning farmers. “My country (Kenya) does not have the level of support for farming you [FSA] provide to your producers,” said Tonui. “Unpredictability deters farmers from expanding. A disaster often eliminates a farmer’s setup. In America, a weather crisis suspends, but does not end, a farmer’s operation.”
Kenyan producers view farming in terms of an acre-size practice, Tonui observed, whereas “your farmers have hundreds of acres in their operations. American farmers are amazingly forward-thinking.” Tonui said he will return to Kenya to implement some of the concepts he learned into his school’s lesson plan.
