Farm help engagement (Shamba boy), not slave!

Today i give insights on so called “shamba boys”. Facts first, Agripreneurs should be professional hence i will use farm helps  from here on wards. It is very hard to find a loyal farm help, and most of those you find rarely have any experience. I mostly see people go for farm helps from the deepest parts of upcountry just to pay cheaply. Well i am here to just give some advice on the topic.

Engaging a farm help:

It is good to be clear about what you want in a farm help. At some point you need a farm manager not a farm help depending on the kind of agribusiness you are practicing. Here are some guidelines to follow though not cast on stone:

1. Make your contract working terms clear, this is employment like any other and hence as the employer be professional, have it written down and get his relevant details.

2. There is the so called market rate, well, my advise? pay well, sustainably since you don’t expect a farm help to be at the farm 8 hours a day, make you Ksh  50,000 per month while you pay him Ksh7,000.

3. Treat them with respect but strictly at the same time, they are also humans never lower a fellow human’s dignity.

4. Pay them promptly to avoid conflict, they depend entirely on that money and may not be privileged to have side hustle.

5. Depending on the scale of farming you are practicing, determine the level of education in a farm help you need, Experience always takes precedence to education in this kind of work sometimes so gauge carefully.

Most of the current agripreneurs are online facebook farmers who go to their farms once a month. I don’t dispute that with a good farm manager you can get good returns but woe unto you if you didn’t gauge the experience of your newly acquired farm help. Always remember that the amount and motivation you put in your farm help determines the output you get from your farm. Do not expect great returns in harvest if you don’t invest enough in your employees.

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