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In 1941 while many Africans were still squatting on European farms ,Mr Kite Arap Tiren was already a successful farmer in the Rift Valley .
By 1949, he already owned over 1000 acres at Iten ,two tractors ,one combined harvester, 2 ploughs and a planter
Beside being a farmer ,he was a contractor to other land owners and also owned a number of businesses.
Mr Tiren’s farming career began in 1927 when he took up employment as a farm labourer at a salary of Shs 3 per month.
He worked in various jobs which included shamba boy ,kitchen boy and tractor boy ,and being shrewd ,the experience gained gave him an idea ; an idea which changed his whole life.
Years later,Mr Tiren left his job to venture into farming .He had no capital to start with except for a borrowed ploughed and bull.
With a horizon of idle land around him he decided to plant wheat and embarked on two acres of undeveloped land .The first seeds he planted were also borrowed.
When he got his first yield he disposed it off quickly by selling it to his former employer and settled his debts with the proceeds.
But all was not well with Tiren ,he encountered strong opposition from his Elgeyo community including his own father and the local chief who felt the cattle were being put to wrong use by being utilised for ploughing.
It took the intervention of S Hopkins the DC for Tiren to continue with his with his activities.
Meanwhile he managed to assuage and appease his father by giving him presents which included building him a nice house .
With time and because of hardwork Tiren’s acreage increased and so did his yield of wheat and maize .
But when he acquired more land where he originally started farming ,he provoked the anger of his neighbours who were jealous of his
increased prosperity.This nearly ruined him and he decided to embark on business as well .
He opened shops at a number of trading centres ,bought a posho mill and also more cattle.Eventually these brought him more money which he used to buy a second hand Fordson tractor.
In 1941,Tiren built his permanent house on his first 150 acres of land at a cost of £1,300 and in 1949 he was awarded a contract to supply food stuffs to His Majesty’s Prisons ,shools and hospitals in the district.
This boosted his business considerably and within a short time ,he acquired two taxis to operate in his home district .
With the aid of a loan from the land settlement board in 1962 ,Mr Tiren bought his new 858 acre farm at Moiben at a cost of £7000.On his farm he grew wheat and maize and also kept 50 head of red poll and boran cattle.
In pursuit of the fine example he had set for himself ,Mr Tiren also helped two of his brothers to follow in his footsteps beside a number of small scale farmers around him.
courtesy of Odhiambo Levin Opiyo