February 16th, 19th and 23rd
were learning days for farmers in Tigithi and Ngobit wards, Laikipia County.
The African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT) in collaboration with The Kenya
Agricultural and Livestock Research organization (KALRO) and the Ministry of
Agriculture organized 3 separate field days in 3 villages (Mwakinya, Male and London). A total of 385
people (167 Males, 218 Females) attended. The participants were composed of the
farmers from 2 wards, Agro-inputs suppliers, local business communities, School
pupils and the extension staffs. The
field days provided the farmers and the agricultural extension agents an
opportunity to interact and showcase Conservation agriculture as the
alternative technology that farmers need to adopt to make their crop
production portfolio less vulnerable to climate risk.
The first
event was held at Mwakinya village in Tigithi Ward on 16th Feb 2016 at Wilfred Kariuki’s
farm where the participants observed the differences between Conservation Agriculture and the farmer practice crops , Cover crops
(Dolichos, Green grams, Cowpeas, Butterbeans and Pegion peas), CA tools (Jab
Planter, Hand ripper and Shallow weeder), drought resistant maize & Sorghum
seed varieties (DH02, DH04, H516 and improved red sorghum) and Kitchen
gardening aimed at helping them achieve food security under a changing climate.
The second
field day was held on 19th Feb 2016 at Ann waweru’s farm in Male Village
in Tigithi ward. Total participants were 68. Farmers were impressed by the crop
performance using the conservation agriculture practice as compared to the
farmers practice. The stakeholders present were Sun transfer, DLight, Equity
Bank, Green Life and Muhonia Bee-keepers. Addressing the participants Mrs.
Grace Migwi, a CA adopter local farmer, narrated how her health has improved
since she started practicing CA. She urged farmers to plant drought resistant
cover crops such as Dolichos, butter beans and pigeon peas whose nutritional
health value is very high. The ACT programme Officer-Kenya, Mr. Peter Kuria, who
was also the chief guest addressed the gathering. In his speech, the programme
officer advised the farmers to put into practice the knowledge gained during
the event. He also urged the farmers to keep on visiting the host farmer to get
more knowledge on CA.
Various demonstrations were done to educate the farmers
on ;
- Use of crop residues and cover crops as soil cover and for soil fertility improvement.
- Benefits of using drought resistant crop varieties.
- Improved post-harvest processing and storage practices to reduce crop losses.
·
Value addition
in beekeeping
·
How to use CA
tools
“My farm has kept improving overtime since 2013.
This year (2016) I’m expecting to harvest at least 30bags of Maize, which is 5
times higher than what I got last season. I urge my fellow farmers to adopt CA
so that they can realize the same benefits”. Said Mrs. Ann Waweru, the Host
farmer.
The third
field day was held at London
village in Ngobit ward at Pauline Muriithi’s farm on 19th Feb 2016.
The event attracted 162 farmers drawn from mwituria, Imenti and kiambirira
locations in Ngobit ward. Also in attendance were stakeholders from Nyala
dairy, Sun transfer-Kenya, DLight-Kenya and green-life. Speaking during the
event, Ngobit ward agricultural officer, Mr. Njuguna called on the farmers to
practice CA so as to increase their production level and profitability. The farmers were able to see the Conservation
agriculture plots with an outstanding maize crop relative to their conventional
plot with weak and highly stressed maize crop. In addition farmers managed to
learn about CA tools, water harvesting techniques, agroforestry. The host
farmer, Mrs. Pauline Muriithi was one of the trainers and used her opportunity
to share her CA experiences with her fellow farmers. Speaking to the participants,
the host farmer urged fellow farmers to take up CA as it involves less labour
and give stable yields.
“Comparing what I see on this demonstration with
our farms, I can see the crops are very strong and are withstanding the hot weather,”
Said Mr. Evanson Mugo, a local farmer. “We can see that it has not been watered
but the crops are thriving with very big cobs, we have to try this method in
our farms.” Mr. Evanson Mugo added.
