Training small-scale tea farmers to start composting and kitchen gardening for a more, diverse, safe and healthy food production. For communities this means a sustainable solution for food security, income and the environment.
The small-scale tea farmers in Upper Kiambu have been highly dependent on the prices of tea that are set by the global market. Many suffer from loss of income and undernutrition due to the current low tea prices, unpredictable weather due to climate change and escalating food prices. Moreover, the mono-cropping causes loss of soil fertility, environmental degradation and may harm other crops due to the (mis)use of pesticides and fertilizers.
150 small-scale tea farmers and their families will improve their well-being by producing their own foods and thus saving money or earning money when they have a surplus to sell at the local market. The saved and earned extra money will further improve their lives by for example, expanding food production or taking their children to school.
On average 750 family members will benefit from improved health conditions, because there is more food on the table, that is healthy, diverse and safe.
The entire community benefits from the increased food security as there will be healthier and more affordable food that will be made available through kitchen gardens. In turn, this will contribute to better well-being and reduced poverty levels among community members.
Moreover, families become resilient to climate change by adapting their farming style while contributing to a healthier environment through using locally available materials and farm inputs like compost, animal and farm-yard manure, organic pesticides and herbicides.
The project costs for 10 groups of small-scale tea farmers are Ksh1,052,100 (or €8,166). The donations will enable us to recruit farmer groups whom we have not yet reached due to limited funds. The donations will be used for:
The specific villages that we intend to target in Kagwe are Githogoiyo, Kamahindu, Gachoire, Matimbei and Githirioni.
During implementation, besides training composting and kitchen gardening, we have also incorporated other farming techniques like;
The seeds distributed were diverse hence the farmers had options to select from depending on their seed of interest.
We expected 150 small-scale tea farmers and their families will improve their well-being by producing their own foods and thus saving money or earning money when they have a surplus to sell at the local market. The saved and earned extra money will further improve their lives by for example, expanding food production or taking their children to school.
From the first results we indeed see that:
In addition, the training specifically resulted in:
Longer-term, we expect that the farmers can market their vegetables locally and earn an income. That is how the entire community benefits from the increased food security as there will be healthier and more affordable food that will be made available through kitchen gardens. In turn, this will contribute to better well-being and reduced poverty levels among community members.
Results we already see are:
By 31 December 2021, we have trained 4 farmers groups with a total of 64 farmers. With the second funding phase, running up to end of March, we have recruited and are working with 4 more farmers groups. This now makes a total of 8 farmers groups we are currently working with a total of 166 small-scale farmers which includes:
From our experience working with tea farmers, we realized that most of them own three acres of land and below where they have their homestead, tea plantation and livestock and in our context, they are classified as small-scale holders. In our case, these farmers rely on tea for everything and forget that they can set aside a portion for kitchen garden for their subsistence food. This is the reason why we identified this as a gap and decided to work with them as beneficiaries for this project.
We have so far, reached the target number and even exceeded the number with 16 farmers because the groups recruited later have many members.
From our experience working with tea farmers, we realized that most of them own three acres of land and below where they have their homestead, tea plantation and livestock and in our context, they are classified as small-scale holders. In our case, these farmers rely on tea for everything and forget that they can set aside a portion for kitchen garden for their subsistence food. This is the reason why we identified this as a gap and decided to work with them as beneficiaries for this project. We have so far, reached the target number and even exceeded the number with 16 farmers because the groups recruited later have many members.
Direct outputs of the training:
Sign up for our Newsletter