Dr. Benjamin Onyango, Professor at Missouri State University’s Darr College of Agriculture stated that a single drought could wipe out an entire community’s livestock but on the other hand, the sale of crops could support a small family for a year. His hopes are to influence the Maasai community in Kenya to find better approaches to utilizing agriculture.

Onyango has received a second fellowship from the ‘Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program’ to travel to Kenya.

As part of this program, he will work with Dr. Grace Murilla, deputy vice-chancellor, administration, and finance, at KAG (Kenya Assemblies of God) EAST University in Nairobi to develop new curricula.

Maasai’s ethnic group is known throughout the world for their traditional lances and splendid clothing, but livestock has been their primary occupation.

With the new urban expansion, Onyango with his industry knowledge on community outreach believes the Maasai could truly profit from producing some high-worth crops.

“I know it’s a troublesome task,” he said. “However, I need to collaborate with the local community, through focus groups, so that we can distinguish what is a need in terms of what they can be prepared for.”

“I’ll team up with Machakos University School of Agriculture to develop short-term agricultural skill-building courses benefiting the Maasai community surrounding KAG EAST University,” Onyango adds.

This program also involves collaborative research, developing community-sensitive courses, delivery mechanisms, and training of workforce and staff on the same.

Due to Covid-19 uncertainties, Onyango plans to leave for Kenya between March and May 2021 and stay there for 90 days.