Former Farmer Moves to Australia to Study Agricultural Science
- Apr 27, 2017
- 1 min read
Growing up on his family's farm in Kenya in the 1980s, Richard Koech lived through one of the worst droughts in history, which inspired him to spend a lifetime studying water.
Dr Koech's family lived in a village near the world-renowned Lake Nakuru, famous for the millions of flamingos living there and the fine marathon runners it produced.
Without food from the farm, families in the region had no other opportunity to earn an income and therefore could not afford to buy food either.
"I had this passion of looking into ways of helping so that people should have other means, for example watering the farms, so that you don't have to depend on rain," he said.
The struggle inspired Dr Koech to study agricultural science at Egerton University, at the time the best agricultural university in East Africa.
After graduation he worked as an extension officer with the government's agricultural department, but after a few years he decided to return to study.
In order to really tackle the water and soil issues farmers were facing, he set out for Australia to gain his Masters' Degree and PhD.
Patrick Savalle
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