Woman establishes climate resilient model farm in Nyanza

A drive through villages in Nyando, Kisumu County tells a story of communities whose farming is a major economic activity as farms are characterised by maize, sorghum and millet among other crops.

At Agoro East village, Evelyne Okoth, 35, is bee-busy at her farm, tending to her crops and poultry.

Hers is a different kind of farming – from the gate, a portion on the right has sweet potato vines, intercropped with different indigenous maize varieties.

There are also richly-fruited pawpaw trees, vertical gardens on which she has planted different types of vegetables, as well as a section where she practices vermiculture.

Vermiculture is an agro ecological method of using earth worms in processing vermin-compost and liquid fertiliser, also known as vermin juice.

“I like calling my kind of farming a circular economy where my activities are interdependent,” Evelyne said.

She adds that she uses water from her fish pond to irrigate vegetables, the waste from vegetable is fed to poultry while waste from her cows is recycled to make vermin compost and vermin-juice as liquid fertiliser for the vegetable garden.

As an agro ecological champion, Evelyne is well known in her village and beyond for her passion in conserving traditional food and indigenous seeds.

She is one of the founders of Kabudi-Agoro Community seed bank, which brings together 25 members, all women, who save and exchange various indigenous seeds.

At her farm, she multiplies 67 different varieties of beans including nyayo, long yellow, short yellow, okuondo among others.

She got some of the parent seeds from Rwanda and Uganda while others were locally sourced.

Additionally, Evelyne multiplies 10 varieties of sorghum, some of which she obtained from the National Gene Bank and others from locals, mostly elderly farmers.

"I'm also multiplying seeds of five sweet potato varieties, two cassava varieties and seven varieties of indigenous maize," she said.

Evelyne says she started farming in 2016, and had always wanted to do it in an organised and profitable way that would be used as a model among her neighbours and peers.

Her journey towards agro ecological agriculture dates back to 2018 when she first interacted with officials from The Alliance Bioversity and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

Having been in farming for two years, Evelyne remembers facing challenges in accessing seeds, particularly the indigenous varieties which are known to be resilient to harsh climate conditions as well as pests and diseases.

“I embraced agro ecology and was among farmers trained on seeds production, selection, saving and seed banking,” recalls Evelyne adding that she is reaping the benefits of agro ecology.

From her vegetable garden, she earns about Sh250 daily. In her fish pond, she keeps 1,000 fish at a time and sells after every eight months, at between Sh200-Sh250 each.

At the time of our visit, she had 600 3-day-old chicks, which she would rear for four months and sell at up to Sh1,000 each.

Like many farmers, her main challenge is lack of enough water especially in the wake of climate change and strained rainfall patterns.

Her dream is to one day have an irrigation system to optimise production even during dry seasons.

Her message to the youth is that they should embrace agro ecology as it is a sustainable way of farming that requires minimal capital, yet it yields good income.

Unlike conventional agriculture where one has to invest heavily in synthetic inputs, agro ecology requires use of the available natural resources.

“Young women should embrace agro ecology and be economically independent instead of depending on men for every financial need,” adds Evelyne

By embracing agro ecology, women who are key in deciding family meals, have higher chances of diversified diets and thus healthier families.

“Young women can scale up on agro ecology and bring together communities to embrace the same so that farmers can have diversified production," Dr Carlo Fadda, the Research Director for Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture at the Alliance said.

He notes that by diversifying production, farmers are able to spread risks and improve their economic aspects through selling surplus produce.

"Diversified foods provides different nutrients, thus positively impacting on people’s health," he adds.

Gloria Otieno, a Genetic Resources and Food Security Policy Specialist at The Alliance says studies have shown that women play a key role in conservation and management of biodiversity.

She says the Alliance has been working with women at Agoro East who have since conserved more than 23 varieties of sorghum, 62 bean varieties and five millet varieties.

By conserving these seeds, she notes, the women are playing a major role towards mitigation against risks related to climate change and its effects.

Through Nature-Positive Initiative (Nature+) which is under The Alliance and co-funded by Biovision, Evelyne is among farmers from Kisumu who have been going through training on permaculture.

Permaculture is an art and science for developing sustainable system for human settlement.

The initiative aims to re-imagine, co-create and implement nature-positive solutions-based agri food systems that equitably support food and livelihoods on the ground while ensuring that agriculture is a net positive contributor to nature.

"While many youths prefer moving to the cities for white collar jobs, Nature + Initiative will create numerous opportunities for young people,” says Fadda, who doubles up as the Team Lead for Nature +.

The anticipated opportunities will include compost making, value addition, marketing and transport among others.