- Thomas Babu, a farmer from Vihiga said he hoped to learn the beneficial trees and other crops that can enhance soil fertility.
- The training included transect walks around farms to identify local flora and fauna, as well as natural resources such as rivers.
Image: LOISE MACHARIA
Famers in Kisumu and Vihiga have benefitted from a permaculture design scoping initiative in a bid to captivate a culture of environment conservation and other nature-friendly practices in their farming.
This comes at a time when food production is negatively affected by various issues key among them being the effects of climate change and depleted soil fertility among others.
Permaculture is an art and science for developing sustainable systems for human settlement.
Through the Nature Positive (Nature+) initiative, farmers are being taken through a series of workshops that will build their capacity to establish permaculture centres as well as adopt permaculture farm designs for a more resilient farming system.
Co-funded by Biovision, Nature+ is an initiative of the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (The Alliance).
This initiative aims to re-imagine, co-create and implement nature-positive agri-food systems that equitably support food and livelihoods while ensuring that agriculture is a net positive contributor to nature.
Over the last two weeks, the project has engaged experts in training more than 200 farmers on permaculture.
Permaculture is a system of sustainable agriculture which is principled on earth care, people care and fair share.
The training included transect walks around farms to identify local flora and fauna, as well as natural resources such as rivers.
Farmers then designed what a permaculture establishment would look like.
The designs are hoped to be improved and actualised in a participatory engagement between experts and local communities.
The initiative is timely as many people are opting for naturally produced food free from synthetic fertilisers and pesticides amid increasing cases of non-communicable diseases.
Genetic Resources and Food Security Policy specialist at The Alliance, Gloria Otieno said hailed the efforts to establish aggregated farms as fragmentation has badly affected production.
“An area like Nyakach in Kisumu County has been affected badly by climate change, pests and diseases leading to low productivity. We want to establish about 50 acres of aggregated farms to be designed to enhance sustainable production,” said Otieno
The farms, she added, will include various activities such as beekeeping, fish and poultry rearing, agroforestry and crops including legumes and tubers among others.
“We will ensure as much diversity as possible so that we can achieve food and nutrition security and enjoy economies of scale through aggregated farms concept,” said Otieno
She recalled that culturally, the Luo people had aggregated farms with specific spaces designated for homes, crops and livestock rearing.
Image: LOISE MACHARIA
However, the colonial era discouraged community-land ownership and instead forged for land fragmentation.
“We are going back to the cultural way as a means of conserving culture, enhancing cohesion among community members and improving productivity,” said Dr Otieno.
Research Associate at The Alliance based in Vihiga, Lillian Aluso said women and youth will be highly involved in the establishment of permaculture aggregated farms.
“The youth will be involved in activities such as recycling and composting which are integral in the Nature+ project thus creating employment and subsequently empowering households,” said Aluso.
Additionally, men and even elders will also be involved in a bid to enhance a participatory process, learning and efficiency in making decisions.
The major challenge though, is in having farmers ‘unlearn’ the conventional ways of farming and going back to the culture of organic, nature-friendly agriculture. For this reason, she noted, a lot of training is needed.
Unlike Kisumu where there is still some community-owned land, Vihiga is characterised by small farms amid a dense population.
Nicholas Syano, a consultant working with The Alliance said humans are to blame for environmental degradation and must also be the ones to reverse the situation.
Syano who also doubles as the CEO of Makueni-based Drylands Natural Resources Center added that permaculture can only be achieved by understanding and applying its principles and ethics.
“Farmers need to embrace the concept of integrated farms as a way of ensuring sustainable production, better yields and safer foods. This will also be a way to strengthen their social fabric,” he said.
Farmers welcomed the initiative saying they have been having low yields. They expressed optimism that permaculture will aid in not only enabling them to have better yields but also earn more money.
“I am hopeful that this initiative will be successful and that beyond the aggregated farms, we will also learn and implement permaculture practices at our small farms,” said Evelyne Okoth, a farmer from Kisumu.
Thomas Babu, a farmer from Vihiga said he hoped to learn the beneficial trees and other crops that can enhance soil fertility.
He added that he would benefit from training on how to make organic compost at his farm as a way of restoring soil fertility.
Babu was hopeful that through working in unity with other farmers and with guidance from experts, the Vigulu sub-location, where implementation of the restorative program will begin will be an example to other regions in the county and region.
The Nature+ project will also be implemented in Kajiado and Turkana counties. Globally, it is also implemented in India, Colombia, Vietnam and Burkina Fasso.
The project aims at promoting agri-food systems that equitably support food and livelihoods while ensuring that agriculture is a net positive contributor to biodiversity and nature.
Image: LOISE MACHARIA
The Initiative aims to achieve a 30 per cent increase in food, land and water productivity, soil restoration and a 50 per cent increase in systems biodiversity.
The Initiative also aims at protecting more than 916,000 hectares of forest from deforestation and restoration.
Over 1.8 million hectares of land will be placed under improved management.
This will be done through the conservation of agro-biodiversity and management of diversity, water and soil.