Green Dreams Organic Farming in East Africa

A year after the Kibera Youth Reform Group started their Organic farm, the farm is looking better than ever with an abundance of healthy crops ranging from Kales, cabbage, spinach, carrots, onions, okra, sugarcane, maize, tomatoes, eggplants, passion fruit, comfrey, dania and amaranthus to name a few!
(I can’t load new photos, seem to have run out of space and not sure what to do…….until I figure it out you can see them on my face book page

Su Kahumbu

also on this reuters report

Victor, Moha, Hassan and the others are probably the most interviewed and filmed folk in the Kibera slum home to over 1,000,000 inhabitants.
The success of the farm is now being looked upon as an interesting solution to urban food security and as a role model farm being emulated by a number of Youth Groups within Kibera and Dagoretti slums.

Kenya is now in it’s fourth year of failed rains, with the effects of famine being felt country wide, resulting in power rationing in the capital city of Nairobi due to low water levels in the hydro electric dams. Crop failure is the norm, talks of food security are high on donor and government agendas, the next few months as we wait for the November rains, will be telling. Kenya sadly is facing a huge famine……………again…………………sigh

And what have we done?
We’ve given our farmers subsidised fertilizer and ‘improved’ seed varieties …….and left them up to ’shauri ya mungu’………….God will take care of us from then on, we have resorted to praying for rain.
And when and if it comes , no doubt it will come down in bucket loads flooding the plains and damaging the soil resulting in sweeping erosion before disappearing again , for years?
And we will blame the Government again. Where are the dams? The water catchment areas? The rain harvesting plans etc. And the Government will figure on bigger priorities, why build dams when the rains have gone afterall?

So this is the way I see it. The farm in Kibera is green productive and sustainable. Why? Drip irrigation and hard work that repays. It is small in size. But then so are most of our small scale rural farms. So why are our small scale farmers not doing the same. Simple, they do not know how to.

The avarage age of Kenya’s small scale farmers is 65yrs old, 70% of whom are women. Many have never left their villages and sell their goods at farm gate to brokers. How would they ever know about drip irrigation? Could they afford it? Would they know how to install it? Are they too old and is it too late? The fact simply is with global climate change we must change our production methods with the biggest change being made around our water use. So we must make drip irrigation, installation maintenance and affordability, available to our small scale farmers in order to feed ourselves as a nation.
Kibera is a great example. The Youth are longing for employment, are not interested in the hard labour of digging the hardpan soils yet are easily converted to agriculture with exciting new technologies. They require capacity building, skills support and encouragement which will ultimately result in employment. If we can make this happen for the Youth they will feed the nation. Green Dreams Foundation is working on the journey.

Gilgil is a town resting on the floor of the Great Rift Valley, about half an hours drive up towards Nakuru from famous Lake Naivasha. The land rises around the town in spectacular volcanic ridges upon which most of our small scale farmers in the area live.
Great volcanic soil enable farmers to produce without much need for artificial inputs, however, water is a problem. Whilst there are a few scenic dams and lush river valleys, due to the deforrestation in the Aberdares area, the rivers now run dry for most of the year.

Transporting products down these perilous ridges is also a huge challenge and is mainly done by bicycle, donkey and of late motorcycle. For large harvests like potatoes, lorries are used, and are more often seen stuck in the muddy gullies which become treacherous during the rain season.

Given the above senario, it’s not suprising that farmers struggling with all of these external factors and infrastructures remain poor most of the year.
In 2006 we took an Organic training program sponsored by BioVision to the farmers in Kigogo. We trained over 60 men and women on organic production emphasising the need to retain and build on soil fertility. Most of the farmers have a mixed cropping system which means there is availability of animal manures, however not all knew how to compost effectively, and some found it less laboursome to simply use artificial fertilizers. Given that an acre of land requires 4 tonnes of compost compared to 50kg of artificial fertilizer, what would you choose to apply under the blazing African sun?

Artificial fertilizers are lighter, can be applied quicker, and produce instant results. How do we then convince farmers that they should look at a more labour intensive and slower form of farming?
In Gilgil many cannot afford artificial fertilizers, so not alot of convincing was needed, just capacity building on effective composting.
No one will work excessively hard unless they get a good enough reward and thus, we set out to find markets for the products coming from the hills. Over the course of the past two years, we have had an intersting stream of organic products coming into our store The Organic Shop, the most famous of which is the Gilgil asparagus. This crop was originally identified due to it’s close resemblance to an indigenous weed in the area. It was soon seen as a cash crop and many farmers were taught how to produce it even though it takes 2 years from seed to viable production!!
When the international buyers eventually stopped purchasing and abandoned the crops, some farmers continued to grow it and began looking for local markets. So what has all of this got to do with rabitts???

Asparagus is harvested every day yet brought down to market every three days. It has a fairly good shelf life and is hardy when being transported (unlike pawpaws It has it’s own niche in the market place as no one else really grows the crop.Gilgil just has the perfect conditions.
It makes logical sense then to figure that if other products could find a niche, be exclusive and of high value, then perhaps all was not lost but rather about to begin for the farmers in the area.

During our training we talked about value addittion and gave examples of organic products including meats , most of our farmers have never been to Nairobi let alone into a supermarket and were very suprised to learn of the possibilities……………….but……………where would they get the knowledge?

About 6 months ago, an elderly man called me and said he wanted to talk to me about rabitts. I immediatly thought ‘Salamonella’!! I’d seen farmers with skinned rabbits in plastic bags festering in the sun at farmers markets .!! None-the-less and not to be put off, the old man and his daughter travelled to Nairobi to discuss the possibilities. I gave them as much information as I could about the cold chain, statutory labelling requirements, slaughter house hygiene etc. The old man asked me to put my requirements in writing, which I did and off they went. I felt mean as the obstacles were simply too high for these guys to meet up in the hills.

So I was pleasantly suprised when last week we recieved our first batch of rabitt meat samples!!! Frozen in half kg packets, labelled and looking very professional!!!

The couple had taken our recommendations to the Government and managed to get an entire project funded that now has 4 farmer groups growing 2000 rabitts!!! ……and not just any rabitts, serious hybrid types too from Denmark and California.

Yesterday we sent out our quality assurance expert Davis Nalika to do an assessment as well as to help the farmers improve on packaing details and as soon as this is done, Nairobi will have a supply of rabitt!!!

Asides from a serious feel good factor, I have learn’t never to underestimate an old farmer.

And I have just learnt that I have met my limit and cannot upload the photos. So have to figure this out but will definitely send some soon!!

On another topic got a mail this morning that said we were listed on Africas top 100 Best Blogs for learning about Africa. What an honour!!!

http://www.bachelorsdegreeonline.com/blog/2009/100-best-blogs-for-learning-about-africa/

Prep-Aid is a non for profit informal organisation I have founded as I feel there is great need for us to prepare in some way, both financial and with ideas and plans for the myriad of disasters that affect Kenya. My friends and family pull together and brainstorm ideas and then seek to aid as best we can. Unfortunately as we are not registered and no one knows us we find it extremely hard to fund raise. Green Dreams Ltd is looking at starting up a Trust in the future to allow us to implement our ideas and projects much more efficiently.

The idea of the Famine Relief Seed Project seems to be something both government and Ngo cannot wrap their head around and after many frustrating meetings we were almost at the point of giving up. Everyone thinks it is a brilliant idea and that the amount of funding is small however, we seem to be sent from door to door and feel like ‘idea hustlers’ at the end of the day!

Our plans were to raise 4 million kenyan shillings, we have so far raised 100,000 (thanks to SafariCom) and thus were ready to channel the funds into a smaller project empowering a youth group of ex convicts to start up community gardens in one of the slum areas. We may however still be able to do the larger project as just yesterday we were told we may get $20,000 from a kind donor in the States.

If this is the case, we will down scale the larger project which is underlined below.

Following the disputed presidential elections in December 2007, Kenya has experienced unprecedented violent clashes among supporters of opposing political camps, which has resulted in large numbers of persons being displaced from their homes and farms in various parts of the country. Large-scale displacement of people from some of Kenya’s most productive agricultural land, particularly in the Rift Valley and Western provinces, has adversely affected Kenya’s agricultural sector, with potentially long-term implications. Recent reports have warned of looming famine and food shortages if the current situation is not normalized soon.

The Famine Relief Seed Distribution Project will target the estimated 250,000 – 300,000 displaced persons around the country, who are currently housed in camps managed by the Kenya Red Cross Society . Plans are currently underway to resettle displaced persons and provide food assistance. The bulk of this food assistance will consist of grains and non-perishable food items, which can be transported and stored over longer periods of time. PREP-AID’s Famine Relief Seed Distribution Project will complement existing food assistance efforts by focusing on perishable food items (specifically fresh vegetables), and will provide additional benefits by taking advantage of the planting season, encouraging farmers to begin producing food, and providing nutritious supplements over the coming months. With the onset of the long rainy season in March, urgent action is needed to ensure that resettled farmers will have access to seed to begin planting as soon as possible.

Methodology: The Famine Relief Seed Distribution Project will distribute 100,000 individual sachets consisting of a mixed variety of fast-growing, short-maturing, hardy vegetable seeds designed to produce fresh food that will be sufficient to sustain an average-sized Kenyan family (6-8 persons) from within 6 weeks after sowing. The seed packs will be distributed to families free of charge by the Kenya Red Cross Society.

Other funding sources: PREP-AID is currently sourcing funding and other contributions from donor agencies, international organizations and corporate sponsors. To date PREP-AID has had initial discussions with representatives of the Kenya Red Cross Society (logistical support) and Safaricom Ltd. (fundraising).

Summary: Urgent action is needed to address the current crises resulting from displacement of large numbers of people from agricultural land, and to mitigate the threat of famine and food shortages over the coming months. The Famine Relief Seed Distribution Project represents a proactive approach that seeks to address the problem before it happens, and while there is still time to act. PREP-AID is ready and willing to roll-out the seed distribution project as soon as funding is available to purchase and prepare seed packs. PREP-AID has already identified suppliers and partners to assist with the distribution of the seed packs.