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Kijani has been training farmers the Farming God’s Way (Foundations for Farming) and conservation farming practices as a way of creating awareness and building the capacity of local farmers to improve the productive potential of their land and therefore also their livelihoods. Our baseline survey of the project area in Marmanet, Central Kenya carried out in 2014 revealed that most people depend on agriculture as a source of income from small farms. However, the challenges facing the population in this area are significant and numerous. Low agricultural productivity, lack of technical know-how on how to improve yields, and degradation of the nearby Marmanet forest negatively affect livelihoods in this area.
Our past two trainings have impacted almost 100 farmers. We have also seen farmers transferring these skills to their own plots over the past one year. We have seen these trainings transforming lives of farmers who apply them to their own context, and we believe that conservation farming continues to represent an important inroad to landscape restoration and livelihood improvement in Marmanet.
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Challenges with adopting these new skills in this area are real. Behavior change is never easy as communities have followed traditional farming practices for decades. Moreover without a demonstration plot to showcase the benefits of conservation farming, farmers lack real-life examples of the potential benefits. These are key areas Kijani aims to tackle in future, as plans are underway to establish demonstrations for farmers and improve on the rigor of our training methodology.
1) Promote sustainable forest management
Under this objective we have managed to train farmers on how they can integrate agriculture and planting of trees. We have distributed and planted over 1000 seedlings among the trained community farmers. Farmers also have seen the importance of practicing smart agriculture in line with forestry where is mutual benefits for plants and crops.
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2) Creating awareness on the need to adopt Foundations for Farming methods to effectively meet the challenge of climate change
25 farmers among those who have been trained have adopted and practice Foundations for Farming techniques in their farms. These farmers are planting purely vegetables for both domestic use and sale of the surplus. The latter increases income generation.
3) To offer cost effective mechanisms for coping with future environmental change and ensuring climate resilience
All of the resources in our training can be easily found in Kwanjiku which makes replicability and reprocity easy whenever they want to transfer this knowledge. All materials used in making compost manure, mulching, and pesticide can be easily found in the community. In that regard as we continue to reach out and train farmers they will find it easy to transfer knowledge.
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4) To train local communities on the need for nurturing the soil for maximum yield and sustainable agriculture
The facilitators of our training have really stressed the importance of zero or minimum tillage. We have seen this being well implemented in the farms. It is also important to note that Foundations for Farming is always geared towards making this a reality.
Hypothesis: If we train community farmers in Foundations for Farming and tree planting techniques then we will be creating a sustainable environment.
Methodology: Kijani employed the two methodologies described below to carry out Foundations for Farming training:
- Class-Style Training
In this case farmers assemble in one room or venue and then the facilitator delivers the training materials to the farmers. This methodology was good at delivering, drawing demonstration and focus discussion groups. This methodology was only meant for the theory part of our training. All the class training was done in Kwanjiku centre inside the Presbyterian Church hall.
- On-Site Training
This methodology was used for practical aspects of the training. Trainees were taken to a demonstration plot to be shown how to make compost, mulching, pesticide amongst other things. This allows farmers to familiarize themselves with hands-on skills.
Networking for implementation of the new methods is also crucial. During the training, farmers also submitted the name of our organization to Laikipia Semi-Arid Extension Program (LASEP), a network of stakeholders in the county of Laikipia. This is a step in the right direction towards achieving increasing visibility in the region.
The outcomes and impact of this project have been experienced in different ways.
1) A total of 95 local farmers have been trained in Foundations for Farming
2) 25 farmers have adopted Foundations for Farming techniques on their farms
3) Over 1000 tree seedlings have been planted within the communities
4) Improved livelihood of farmers has been achieved as they sell surplus vegetables.
5) Kijani has been recommended to join Laikipia Semi-Arid Extension Program (LASEP), a network of NGOs in the county of Laikipia as a stakeholder who will be training farmers in Foundations for Farming.
6) We have organized farmers in groups so as to start benefiting from the trees they plant.
7) Kijani has earned a reputation in the community as a viable organization that is striving to improve livelihood.
8) Local agricultural extension officers have decided to start helping local farmers adopt Foundations for Farming techniques.
9) The distribution and planting of over 1000 tree seedlings among 30 farmers has changed the perception community members have on planting indigenous trees in the community.
10) Creation of other sources of income is seen as farmers divert to growing vegetables as a second revenue stream.
From the first time we held training in Kwanjiku we have faced some challenges. One of the challenges is that, since Marmanet is a settlement scheme, some pastoral communities which were settled there do not practice farming. When they have been trained they find it difficult to transfer that knowledge into their own farms since they are purely animal keepers and farming is not their known lifestyle. Furthermore over 90% of Marmanet residents own only 2.5 acres of land. This makes it difficult for them to practice any other new techniques which emerge.
It has clearly emerged that Kijani should be permanently on the ground to work closely with farmers after training and help them walk through various challenges that arise. In order to facilitate this, Kijani should have a permanent demonstration plot. This plot will serve two purposes:
- With a structure built there, we can use the facility as a venue for training.
- We can also cultivate a standard and permanent demonstration plot. The facility can also be used to host Bible studies for the community.
Kijani has spent the grant funds strictly on our priority program and activities according to the first proposal presented to Bright Hope World. The amount we received was $6,245 and we are remaining with $3,962. Total expenditure to date of this report is $2,283.
A bulk of the funds have been used to train community members, transport facilitators, and take care of accommodation as well as other minor expenses.
We are looking towards giving a detailed financial report by the end of the project.
We are grateful for the continued support Bright Hope World has offered Kijani in the implementation of this vision for Marmanet. We trust that as we continue to walk together there will be a strong impact and we will realize the transformation of the life of local farmers in this region of Kenya. We pray that God will make His purpose even more clear and give us specific strategies to inform every step we make in this collaboration journey.