Students at bikeke comprehensive school showcasing their agricultural products.
A 104-member student farming club in Trans-Nzoia County turns a school compound into a model of agricultural enterprise — and draws hundreds of farmers eager to learn
By Daniel Kipchumba, Correspondent
Hundreds of farmers descended on Bikeke Comprehensive School in Kitale, Trans-Nzoia County, yesterday for an agriculture field day organised and led by the school’s thriving 4-K Club, whose 104 pupil members demonstrated crop production techniques and shared practical farming knowledge with the surrounding community.
The event showcased what is quietly becoming one of the more impressive school-based agricultural programmes in the region. The club, which draws members from Grade 4 through Grade 9, has already grown cabbages, kale, spinach, lettuce, black nightshade, broccoli and various spices on the school grounds. Its most ambitious undertaking, however, is a Moringa tree nursery that currently holds more than 5,000 seedlings, with a target of 30,000 — a project that carries significant value beyond the school fence, given the tree’s well-documented medicinal properties.
The head of the institution, Ronald Francis Toili Wamalwa, along with club patrons Verah Katikit and Joseph Lumuli, has backed the initiative with agricultural supplies and financial support, underscoring the school leadership’s commitment to making agriculture a living part of the curriculum rather than a subject confined to a classroom. The Board of Management, chaired by John Wekesa Wamalwa, has similarly embraced the club’s work and provided institutional support for its continued growth.
Ten teachers drawn from the school’s agriculture department — Noel Eyauma, Rael Nanjala, Robert Wanjala, Bernard Biketi, Bernard Nyakona, Daniel Wasike, Mercy Muriithi, Phyllis Jepkorir, Priscah Makonje and Martin Lusweti — played an active role in guiding the project to yesterday’s milestone, working alongside pupils to ensure the field day delivered real value to attending farmers.
The guest of honour, Kenneth Kagai, Director of Agriculture in Trans-Nzoia County, attended alongside county agriculture officials Geoffrey Masengeli, Enosh Wamalwa and Donnah Kibutit, all of whom expressed admiration for the pupils’ initiative and the quality of knowledge they presented to the farming community.
Area Assistant Chief Vincent Nabutola urged farmers in attendance to adopt the gardening practices demonstrated by the club, describing the pupils’ effort as an example worth replicating across the region. Kagai echoed the sentiment, encouraging farmers to join savings and credit cooperatives and to take seriously the agricultural innovations the students had put on display.
Several private sector partners lent their weight to the event. Bomatech, the club’s main supplier of vegetable seedlings, was present as a key stakeholder. Waki Supplies Agencies provided water for attendees, while Western Seed Company distributed free seeds to farmers — a practical gesture that ensured participants left with more than knowledge alone.
The club’s ambitions do not stop at crop production. Plans are already in place to venture into poultry keeping, fish farming and rabbit rearing, pointing to a programme that is deliberately building a full agricultural value chain within a school setting.
For the farmers who attended, the day offered something rarely available closer to home — hands-on guidance delivered not by extension officers, but by children who have grown the evidence themselves.
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