The beginning of 2023 was marked by the intensification of the development of agroecological practices among CGA members in Laikipia and Meru counties, with the support of Fert and the Louis Dreyfus Foundation.
Fert and CGA have set up an outreach program with 12 producers groups in Laikipia and Meru counties to help them restore soils, better manage water resources and improve food security and income. Through trial and demonstration plots on topics such as bio-input production and use, conservation agriculture, and crop diversification (sorghum, pigeon pea), farmers are learning new practices to improve their resilience to climate change. Each group has set up a nursery for the production of fruit trees, useful plants (biofertilizers, biopesticides) and vegetables. These productions provide the groups with sources of income through the sale of plants, and their members with a complementary source of food.
From March 21 to 23, 2023, Samuel NJOGO, agronomist at CGA and Nadège KIPPEURT, Fert technical advisor, participated in the first East African Conference on Agroecology organized in Nairobi. This conference gathered more than 500 people: researchers, farmers’ organizations, development actors, farmers, technical and financial partners, …
CGA and Fert had the opportunity to present their intervention in Laikipia and Meru counties. The audience praised the innovative approach, which is characterized by a proximity advice and the piloting of actions by the producers. A scientific paper produced from this work was published and presented at the conference.
The numerous round tables and presentations also allowed CGA and Fert to get to know better the actors committed to agroecology in Kenya and to establish contacts that could lead to partnerships for the benefit of CGA members.
On April 1st, the Board of Directors of the Louis Dreyfus Foundation together with representatives of Louis Dreyfus Commodities Kenya visited members of Tumaini Poultry Group in Laikipia, one of the groups engaged in the development of agroecological practices. The members of the group proudly presented to the visitors their avocado and papaya nursery as well as their demonstration plot where they are testing various cereals and legumes that can be introduced in chicken feed (soybean, mucuna, sunflower) following the principles of conservation agriculture (minimum tillage and mulching). The farmers also demonstrated the production of biopesticides and talked about the importance of the support they receive regarding the associative life and the global management of the farm.
These different experiences in the field of agroecology have confirmed the importance of this approach to achieve Fert and CGA’s objective of improving the resilience of family farming. After a first year of implementation with 8 groups of producers, the action in Laikipia and Meru has been extended to 4 other groups and provides for the training of agroecology relay farmers and the establishment of showcase sites to accelerate the dissemination and adoption of agroecological practices.
