Good News from the Institute for Organic Farming: It is there and thriving. Since five years it has been self sustaining – without any funding other than tuition and fees for the education the institute provides. It has moved to a place 30 kilometres north of Nairobi. Students of the agricultural faculty of Jomo Kenyatta University of Technology can add a degree in Organic Farming to their academic awards.
Tag Archives: agriculture
Kenyan Institute for Organic Farming (year 2000 text)
Bio-farmers on the school bench
3 wooden poles joined together form the letter A. From its apex a stone hangs down on a ribbon as a plumb. Farmers in the Kenyan uplands use this so-called “A-frame” to identify the landscape’s contour lines. Along these lines ditches are dug in which the water collects when it rains. Planted with banana trees and Napier grass the ditch gardens yield a good crop,also providing the necessary animal feed. Continue reading Kenyan Institute for Organic Farming (year 2000 text)
Maasai issues today
The Maasai organization OSILIGI has been dissolved by the Kenyan administration after activists had demonstrated on one of the big farms in the area in 2003. The fight for land rights has been lost (so far). But one of the schools OSILIGI built is still there – and highly valued by the tribesmen and women. Continue reading Maasai issues today
Moneymaker in Action
On the road from Kisumu to the airport, Joyce Mkoya operates a tree nursery. Continue reading Moneymaker in Action
Promoting Indigenous Plants (year 2000 text)
Promotion of lndigenous and Traditional Fruits and Vegetables as Micro-nutríent Sources
Even Amaranthus lividus Can Enrich the Diet
Many plants common in Kenya are used by the local population. Dyes, resins, fuel and oils, sometimes even medicines and nutrients are made from them. Although the eating of wild vegetables and fruits has a long tradition in Kenya, the individual nutritive values and physiological qualities of each were not always known. Continue reading Promoting Indigenous Plants (year 2000 text)
Indigenous Plants Promotion 2015
This is the only project in Kenya I could not find out about.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, Natural Heritage, Culture and Social Services which was named in 2000 as the main player in this project does not exist any more. Continue reading Indigenous Plants Promotion 2015
Micro Irrigation Pumps Project (2000 text)
lndependence made easy
It sounds like a fairy-tale. Helen Murangiri bought her first oil-seed press in 1995. She had noticed this hand-operated machine at a small agricultural exhibition put on by the Kenyan non-governmental organization ApproTec She asked a neighbouring farmer to grow sunflowers for her, and a few months later 3 employees were pressing 20 litres of high-quality pure sunflower oil daily. Continue reading Micro Irrigation Pumps Project (2000 text)