Oklahoma ingenuity builds farm in Africa

Monique Headley

For some, bi-coastal is a chic claim. Others, like Calvin Burgess, are bi-continental and ready for business.

Burgess spoke at Wednesday’s Stillwater Global Affairs Forum about “Agribusiness in Africa — Oklahoma Know-How Impacting the World.” The free program at Stillwater Public Library addressed the challenges he has faced in creating a business in Africa and its effect.

Burgess, president and CEO of the Dominion Group of companies, divides his time between Logan County and the west Kenyan province of Nyanza.

According to its Web site, Dominion was among the largest landlords to the U.S. government, building and operating for-profit prisons and federal office buildings. After divesting those interests, Burgess said, he wanted to do something significant, so he undertook a gigantic project in the worst place because he wanted to do something with his life.

“There is a spiritual, humanitarian side to what I am doing,” he said. “I believe it’s what I am supposed to do with my life. This is my calling. This is what God wants me to do.”

In 2002, Burgess visited the Yala Swamp. Fed by the Yala River, the 17,050 acres near the eastern shore of Lake Victoria on the equator was home to a host of animals and plants.

Burgess worked with the Kenyan government to obtain a 45-year lease for a farm, which he established in 2003. According to the Web site, Burgess has created a farm for the “production and sale of rice, other cereal grains and tilapia fish to the markets of Kenya and surrounding countries ... and the necessary infrastructure for the growing, drying, milling and storage of rice and other commodity grains.”

“It’s taken a huge amount of money,” he said. “We’ve got $30 million invested into it and we are just now breaking even.”

Burgess said he was told that in five years of operation, his company had done what it takes generations to do. Between 650 and 700 Kenyans work on the farm, which is managed by four Americans and one South African, he said.

“Some of the workers were goat herders or cattle farmers. Many never had a job or went to school,” he said. “Eighty-five percent lived below the poverty line. Kenyans are intelligent people but because of the education offered, they are largely uneducated. Now they are using laser-guided equipment that costs $450,000.”

More than 500 tons of state-of-the-art construction and farming equipment was imported to the farm from the United States and Brazil, according to the Web site.

“We built a dam and stopped a river that moved 41 cubic meters per second. It’s the most dangerous thing I’ve done,” said Burgess.

The effort to move three mountains into the river was completed in 12 hours by 600 employees as thousands watched.

“When we came in and tried to tell them what we were doing, we might as well have been aliens,” Burgess said. “It’s such a remote area. The concept of where we were going was tremendous.”

Even now, there are no Africans on the board of directors or involved on a level higher than farm worker.

Burgess said he anticipates future yields will offset Kenyan trade balances by more than $100 million and cut the national food production shortfall in half.

“In five years, we will be the greatest farm in the world ... I always wanted to build a fish farm,” he said. “Soon we will be among the top four or five farms in the world.”

The impact to the surrounding communities, he said, is an almost 20 percent drop in the poverty rate. According to Burgess, there are many small businesses and where people used to walk, they ride bicycles.

“Straw thatched roofs are now metal — the metal roofs usually come after they acquire a second wife,” he said.

Burgess said his goal is to create an inter-generational infrastructure of tens of thousands of Kenyans to feed into and benefit from the various production streams. Such buy-in, he said, will lessen government interference. In the past, even correspondence from President Bush and other cabinet ministers proved unsuccessful.

Though he has not yet done so, Burgess said he has received more than 30 offers from other countries, including the U.S. government, interested in funding or recreating his efforts.

Despite its seeming success, the program is not without detractors.

Initial opposition was from Kenyans. The proposed site was said to be built in a demonic area used by witch doctors. The ground was later reclaimed in a three-day ceremony involving 300 people. A 60-foot cross was later resurrected on the sanctified site.

In an article published by The Nation, Cecil Agutu, organizer of a residents' support group, Friends of Yala Swamp, referred to the cross as a symbol of colonial oppression.

After construction of the cross, said Burgess, what had been impenetrable politics became absolute peace. Such a transition cannot be taught in a business book, he said.

In the same article, Dominion was accused of offering residents compensation of 45,000 Kenyan shillings, approximately $64 U.S., to leave their homes. Burgess claims no residents were displaced.

Included in construction at the farm is a sports field and walk-up drive-in. Burgess has plans to create a vocational institute to teach 12 careers including animal husbandry, farming, equipment maintenance, baking, food preparation and beauty services. Education and opportunities for economic development are most needed, he said.

With HIV and AIDS decimating Kenya’s most precious commodity — its people — Burgess already has plans to address sex education.

Africa would also benefit from fewer church missions, or as he calls them, Christian tourism groups, Burgess said. People who come to Africa to help, said Burgess, should come with a steadfast commitment to stay and to make a difference. He encouraged U.S.-educated Africans to return to their home to share their advanced knowledge.

According to Burgess, institutions like Oklahoma State University, Meridian Technology Center and Oral Roberts University are involved to affect change. Burgess said he is working with the Wes Watkins Agricultural Research and Extension Center at OSU and the schools of engineering and veterinary medicine to create course curriculum. MTC’s training programs will offer instruction in basic farming, counseling and hospitality.

“Someone like Burgess can only bring people together,” said forum founder Daniel Mutai. “It’s important we find a way to involve the community for change. It’s the right time to do something instead of just talking.”

A reverse exchange program is being planned for Kenyans to visit the United States.

Two more forums have been scheduled for the year: “Water” on Aug. 27 and “Terrorism” on Nov. 4.