The two  methods  are  organic and industrial farming.  Conservationists are keenly watching this struggle hoping that its aftermath will guarantee a sustainable environment and a healthier diets for millions of people.

Okodof farm in Brodowin 56 kilometers North-East of the German capital, Berlin, is a case example of how nature friendly organic farming is eating into farm produce market that for decades has been the domain of industrial farms.

The 1,200 hectare farm was formerly collective farm before the reunification of Germany. When it was   returned to farmers who had originally owned the land in 1990, they decided to transform it into an eco- farm.

Their priority was to keep cows for milk and cultivate rye and wheat, both for making silage and cereals.
The idea has turned noble and the farm is an enviably a thriving enterprise.

According to Susan Poinke, the farm’s spokesperson the   reason why the framers opted for organic form of cattle rearing was because of the poor sandy soils of the area.

There are an estimated 500 heads of cattle on the farm. Around 250 of the cattle are cows, which are being milked, and 250 are calves. A total of 70 people work on the farm. Employees earn a minimum salary of 900 Euros and receive training on organic farming husbandry practices.

According to Poinke the venture has reduced the rate of unemployment Brodowin has lowered in the area to the rate of two percent. “After reunification many young people left the area and the farmers felt that this venture could stem the exodus,” she says.
No artificial fertilizers are used on the farm and treatment of sick animals done by a resident veterinarian is   natural as possible.

In a deviation from conventional farming where cows give as much as 12,000 litres of a milk a year, cows at Okodof farm only produces 7,000 to 7,400 litres a year.

Poinke explains that lower milk production due to the cows being fed on natural fibre and not concentrates. She says that the milk produced is however of high quality. “Our concern is the cows’ health. We do not treat them as milk producing machines,” she states.

Cows are reared for an average of 13 years upon which they are sold to make to meat processor for making sausages  ‘salamis’ since their meat is unsuitable for consumption as beef.
On conventional farms cows are sold before there fifth year.

Another unique aspect of the farm is that milk is processed and bottled right on the farm and some made into other products. An estimated three and half million litres are processed on the farm with Okodof farm providing half and the rest coming from other organic farms in the region. With 1,500 customers in Berlin city the farm has spawned opportunities and provided linkages with other companies such as packaging farms and transporters.

Although milk produced on Okodof farm is comparatively expensive compared to milk from industrial farms, Okodof’s milk customers have continued to increase.

In an African country like Kenya, many farmers own small holdings on which they grow crops and rear livestock.  Majority of them use traditional knowledge, which is itself nature friendly. They also fuse it with modern science to increase production.

The Kenya Institute of Organic Farming, (KIOF) says modern conventional agriculture is costly to farmers. Many small-scale farmers cannot afford inputs.

Moreover due to lack on information and literacy many
of the inputs end up harming them and polluting the environment.

KIOF strives to educate farmers to practice alternatives, which are more environmentally friendly.  It argues that traditional practices enabled communities to farm for generations before the introduction of modern technologies.

A report prepared by the a joint United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Conference on

Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Capacity Building Task Force on
Trade, Environment and Development, organic farming is though yet fully established is a growing phenomenon in Kenya.

The report says for many years  organic farming has been  fully embraced a number of horticultural companies. It has however been  taken to farmers by development oriented non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and community-based organizations  (CBOs).

The report adds that most initiatives of NGOs and CBOs aim to diversify food produced at the household level in a sustainable way and, and ensure ecological sustainability of the farming systems and so as to increase household incomes through market access.
Although the government is yet to recognize the role of organic agriculture through policies that could promote it there is a conducive atmosphere for the organic farming to thrive.
Basic infrastructure such as micro-credit organizations, training institutions and markets both local and export are ingredients that could stimulate  the growth of the sector.

Thus, if well mobilized Kenyan small scale farmer can pool their and establish viable organic farm business through value addition and take advantage of the growing local and international market.

With a high demand for meat and milk products, vegetables and fruits, essential oils, dried herbs and spices, as well as products for the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries increasing Kenyan farmers have an incentive to go the organic way and smile all the way to the banks. Industrial farmers are thus facing a duel from their opponents who are  not armed with tones of chemicals but mere respect for nature and to whom the challenge of a lower price tag is confronted with high quality.

The words of Dr. Claudia Sattler of  the Germany Centre for Landscape research, best sums the future of agriculture,  “farmers all over the world are capable of integrating biodiversity into effective and competitive agriculture.” Indeed  in Kenya they can.

Further still the country lacks a pool of nuclear experts that can run the reactors.
Going by our poor safety culture that has seen frequent occurrence of tragedies due to poor construction of buildings and resultant haphazard rescue operations, an accident in a nuclear reactor will be a great calamity. Uranium, the mineral used in nuclear reactors is experiencing a surge in price and could make generation of electricity expensive. Fears that uranium could be exhausted in less than a century makes investment in nuclear energy an unwise move.

Another ramification of relying on nuclear energy as a key source of   electric power is that the country will be highly vulnerable to political manipulation of any developed power that will grant it its nuclear technology.  Incase nuclear reactors start operating, the challenge of where to take used plutonium will emerge.  Currently Kenya lacks the capacity to handle nuclear waste. Another fear is our vulnerability to terrorist attacks.  If a nuclear reactor were to target there would be a heavy toll on the communities living near it as well as the environment.

Thus investment in renewable energy, which the country is highly endowed, is the secure way to go.
Kenya is yet to optimally exploit is huge potential in wind, solar and geothermal power. This sources of energy although still need further research to be fully harnessed are more secure, reliable and safe for both the poor, rural and urban communities.  Investment in them will not only spawn job creation but also protect the environment.

Analysts also say that Investment  in off grid wind and soiar units is not costly and households can access them on credit. Construction of energy efficient houses and use of efficient bulbs will save more energy. The above options will on the other hand relieve the country from relying on fossil fuels whose importation has an impact on the economy. Perhaps the government should reconsider its newly found affection with nuclear energy.

Initially thought to be relatively common metal, found in rocks and seawater, the rise in the world’s nuclear power facilities is set to lead to over extraction of available uranium reserves cause irreversible damage to the environment and affect the health of thousands of mine workers more so in poor nation where it is extracted.

Thomas Heff, a research affiliate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), says that uranium reserves are dwindling fast, and that there is a slackening in investment in securing future supplies.
Worse still the nuclear industry seems to have been caught off guard as future supplies of uranium are concerned.  “Just as large numbers of new reactors are being planned, we are only starting to emerge from 20 years of underinvestment in the production capacity for the nuclear fuel to operate them. There has been a nuclear industry myopia; they didn’t take a long-term view,” Says Heff.

But the World Nuclear Association, (WNA) argues that quantities of the mineral are greater than commonly perceived deposits can supply world energy needs and more so if the technology of extraction is improved.

In early 1970s the oil supply boycott against western powers by countries in the Middle East added to the impetus of seeking nuclear energy for self-reliance in energy supplies. Currently the fear of overeliance on Russian oil and gas, which is heavily ladenned with political undertones, has fuelled the urge for several countries in Western Europe to seek alternative sources of energy.

Two countries, Great Britain and Germany however present an interesting scenario on the development and future of nuclear energy in Europe. According to the European Nuclear Society, (ENS) Britain derives 20 percent of its total energy from nuclear energy plants while Germany sources 25-30 percent from the same. But the two countries   are taking divergent paths as far as nuclear the future of energy is concerned.
ENS statistics indicate that Great Britain has 19 nuclear power plants and Germany 17. As in many parts of the world the public perception has grown increasingly negative against nuclear power plants since the Chernobyl disaster that occurred in the then Soviet Union.  But in Great Britain, the government has put no limit on new nuclear plants it can built and plans are under way to have the French owned electric company EDF built more nuclear reactors.

Addressing a British Nuclear Energy Society Conference three years ago, Malcolm Wicks, Minister of State for Energy was bold about his government’s love affair with nuclear energy.

“I recognise the fact that nuclear generation provides around 20 percent of the UK’s electricity, which is carbon free at the point of generation, and the nuclear industry directly employs around 56,000 people, with many more employed indirectly. This is clearly an important sector of the energy industry,” he said.
The situation is different in Germany. Courtesy of the strong lobbying by the Green Party, the Germany government is not keen to increase the number of nuclear reactors and the debate on nuclear energy revolves around the duration which the existing plants should be allowed to exist with political will gravitating towards their decommissioning.

Sigmar Gabriel, German Federal Minister for the Environment recently told the press that he rejected the idea of extending the service life of nuclear power plants, stating that an extension would massively hinder the development of renewable electricity generation in Germany. He said his arguments had been corroborated by the arguments of electricity suppliers in Great Britain. “Nuclear power is simply incompatible with renewable energy sources,” claims Gabriel. “Whether the big old nuclear reactors remain in the electricity market as suppliers and competitors, or whether they gradually disappear from the grid, as contractually agreed upon between the German government and the energy industry, certainly makes a difference.”
According to the Centre for Alternative Technology, Great Britain has enormous potential for wind and wave power, but their exploitation is limited.

Germany on the other hand leads in solar and wind energy research in Europe. Figures from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology indicate that the share of electricity from renewable energy in Germany rose   from 6.3 percent in 2000 to about 15 percent in 2008. The renewable sector employed 214,000 people in 2006, As the debate rages on, one thing is clear evidently renewables will not send   nuclear energy into a ‘half life’ soon in Europe.