• Under Phase I, over 200,000 households have been supported through grants; Phase II is ongoing with a target of 230,000 households in 21 counties.
• Currently, the learning site has 12 kitchen garden technologies that households can choose from.
The government plans to establish one million kitchen gardens across the country to guarantee households access to a healthy diet during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The government plans to establish one million kitchen gardens across the country to guarantee households access to a healthy diet during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Agriculture CAS Anne Nyaga said Covid-19 has forced the county into a new normal.
“We have, therefore, acknowledged the potential implications of the pandemic on the national and household food security and access to diverse, safe nutritious foods. Access to a healthy diet is vital in building and maintaining a strong, healthy immune system and therefore, there is a need to produce diversified foods,” she said.
She spoke on Tuesday while launching the initiative at Kilimo House, Nairobi.
Nyaga said kitchen gardens have been proven the easiest and fastest ways households can ensure inexpensive, regular and handy supplies of fresh vegetables, fruits, herbs, spices, eggs and meat.
“Well-planned kitchen gardens also guarantee households access to a healthy diet that contains adequate macro and micronutrients as many kinds of foods can be produced,” the CAS said.
She said so far, under Phase I, some 19,750 households have been supported with grants from the National Agriculture Rural Inclusive Growth Project, 15,000 through Smallholder Irrigation and Value Addition Project and another 171,992 through Kenya Climate-Smart Agriculture Project.
Phase II is ongoing with a target of 230,000 households in 21 counties, she said, appealing to the vulnerable households to apply for grants.
To showcase technologies available for the establishment of a kitchen garden, Nyaga said the ministry has set up a demonstration and learning site at Kilimo House.
“The site showcases different technologies that can be used in different agro-ecological zones, urban and rural areas. It will be open to the public every Wednesday to enable them to experience first hand, the different technologies in home/kitchen gardening."
"The ministry is also finalising a training manual for the garden technologies for use by extension service providers. The manual will in addition be circulated to the counties and be shared on the ministry’s website,” she added.
Currently, the learning site has 12 kitchen garden technologies that households can choose from, the CAS said.
"Counties are required to determine which technologies and vegetables are best suited for their AEZ and implement the home/kitchen gardens to enable us to implement the one million home/kitchen garden initiative.”
In addition, the ministry has developed the Kenya Recipe Book 2018 which has simple recipes using locally available foods.
“Preparation is key and we advise that appropriate food preparation methods are used in order to optimally conserve the nutrients in the various foods. We have also developed guidelines on the preservation procedures and are available on www.kilimo.go.ke and will be included in the manual being developed,” she said.
Nyaga pointed out that with proper management of the kitchen garden, households are likely to have excess vegetables that can be preserved for use during lean times.
“There is, therefore, a need to embrace food preservation through drying of fruits, vegetables, fish and meat. It is important to adhere to proper food storage to avoid contamination and waste."
Edited by R.Wamochie