to Land

From Lab to Land • 23
Integrating push–pull into holistic change
Name: Lillian Ouma, b. 1979
Education: College diploma in Education
Job: School teacher, farmer, farmer-teacher
Lillian Ouma is a busy woman. As well as working
as a schoolteacher, she does some of the farm
work on a smallholding that includes two push–
pull plots, a kitchen garden and a bulking plot of
stunt-resistant Napier grass. She also finds time
to be a farmer-teacher and an active member and
office-holder in the Jiinue (‘Lift yourself up’) group.
“I squeeze my time!” she laughs.
The Jiinue group formed in 2006 when icipe first
came to their part of Busia district to disseminate
push–pull, and Lillian and several of her neighbours
adopted it. Lillian was initially the group’s secretary
and was responsible for writing their successful
proposal to become a Heifer International group.
She received a dairy cow from Heifer in 2011 and
has passed on a female calf to a member of a
neighbouring group.
Before 2006, life was very different. “We were
doing things without knowledge,” she says, “just
doing it endlessly, wasting time and energy but not
harvesting much.” Since getting push–pull and,
with support from Heifer International, moving
towards a more diverse, integrated and sustainable
crop–livestock system, “my life has changed
holistically: financially, from the sale of maize
and milk; socially, through being in a group that
shares ideas; mentally, as we are now educated;
and emotionally, because we are at peace, with
enough food.”
The Jiinue group has both male and female
members, who participate equally in meetings
and activities – ‘full participation’ being one of
the Heifer cornerstones. At home, although Lillian
does most of the farm work, her husband – also a
schoolteacher – shares many of the tasks and takes
responsibility for milking the cow every morning
and evening. “That is not common in this place,”
says Lillian, “but for those who are knowledgeable,
who have been trained, you can do this and be
role models for others.”
In 2015, Lillian bought
a pig, which eats some
of the fodder from
her push–pull plot, to
generate income from
the sale of piglets. Her
next planned venture
is a poultry unit. “My
objective,” she says,
“is improvement.”