Ms. Agnes Muthoni is a farmer of Mwangaza self- help group, a farmer group in Mbeere, Embu County. Agnes is a youth small scale farmer and a mother of two. She relies on farming for living. Just like other farmers in Mbeere, she has experienced hardship in farming due to crop failure as a result of unreliable rains coupled with inadequate knowledge and skills on farming technologies to adopt in order to adapt with changing climate. According to Agnes, the “Ecosystem Management for improving Community Climate Change Resilience” project came to save her and restore hope in farming. Since 2016 when ICE started working with her group, they have gained various skills on farming helping them increase their farm production with minimal cost. Some of practices learnt that she has adopted include use of compost manure and development of on-farm water harvesting structures such as zai pits. Before the project’s intervention, Agnes concedes she used to plant seeds on bare lands i.e. with no manure/compost since she did not know how to make and could not afford the fertilizers. The trainings on sustainable agricultural practices came during the period Agnes was so desperate for new skills to change her farming. Therefore, she could not wait to start applying the knowledge gained in her farm. She adds that getting extension services from government agriculture officers has been difficult because they are few and serving wide area. In January 2017, Agnes started preparing her farm and amongst other preparations she developed zai pits where she planted her crops. The crops she planted included maize, beans, cowpeas and green peas. She had also prepared compost manure which she used to plant in her large portion of the one-acre farm. She said that it was not easy especially being first time adopt the practices, but she says when she now looks at her farm she knows it was worth it. In the last two seasons, Agnes harvested one bag of maize, but she is confident that this time she will harvest more than 4 bags of maize among other crops from the same size of land. For the purpose of an experiment, Agnes did not apply compost manure nor planted on zai pits on some portion of her farm in order to compare the outcome with the areas where Zai pits and compost manure was used. She now says that results speak for themselves. She however mentioned one of the challenge she is facing as a farmer is pest control especially on cereal crops while still on farm.  She therefore recommended for support on biological ways of dealing with pests especially in Mbeere Sub-county, which is an area where cereals can naturally do well. She appreciates, the knowledge gained that has in turn changed farming for her and her fellow group members as well as neighbors.  Agnes reported to have trained five neighbors who are not members of Mwangaza group but admired her crops and came to seek advice on what she did. Agnes concludes by saying, No turning back! Story by: Hannah Kigamba

“I now feel proud of my work as a farmer and the success I have made this far. My family is not only food and nutritional secure but we are making a living through sale of surplus produce from this farm” says Victoria Mumo. Victoria Mumo hails from Kithendo village in Kithimani Ward, Yatta Sub-county of Machakos County. The climate of Machakos County is semi-arid with erratic and unpredictable bi-modal rainfall pattern. The rainfall ranges between 500mm to 1,300mm annually. Just like many other parts of the country and world, farmers in Yatta have experienced frequent crop failures, water shortages due to weather aberrations which have manifested in different forms such as delayed and untimely rainfall, increase in temperature among others. Victoria’s journey to success began when her group, ‘Muuo wa Canaan’ started working with ICE in 2014 under a project that aimed at building capacity of small holder farmers to adapt to effects of climate change. The project implemented in 2014-2015, embarked on creating awareness among community members on effects of climate change through sensitizing them on unsustainable land use practices; On-farm trainings on agro-ecological farming practices including diversification of farm produce; Providing exposure learning visits and supporting farmers with seeds for livelihood diversification between crops and livestock. Household food security was given priority in view of the uncertainties in production. From the project, Victoria gained interest to change her farming practices in order to improve the productivity of her farm. She said she was happy that her husband supported her desire to improve the productivity of their farm. They started by establishing on farm water harvesting structures and construction of house for rearing poultry in a bid to diversify their farming. Since adoption of the new farming practices and diversifying their farm as trained and advised by trained by ICE Kenya, the family now has managed to use their farm optimally and increased the production and income threefold. Farming has now become full time job for Victoria and her husband who previously worked as a hotelier. In their farm, Victoria and her husband have more than seven crop varieties on their farm including; Cassava, pigeon peas, sweet potatoes, bananas, mangoes, beans, maize and varieties of indigenous vegetables. “When farmers come here, they are surprised that I have been able to grow even crops such as bananas in this dry area”, She proudly says with a lingering smile. In addition, the family has two dairy cows and more than 250 improved kienyeji (local) chicken. The sale of milk, eggs and chicken earns them income to meet their dairy needs before crop harvest. In 2016, ICE started another project in Yatta that aimed at improving economic empowerment of women smallholder farmers in Machakos County. The project has facilitated training of women groups on record keeping, marketing and managing village saving and loaning amongst the group members. Victoria’s group was one of the groups engaged in the project among fourteen women groups in Machakos County. The knowledge and skills enabled Victoria become an entrepreneur farmer hence able to market her produce and earn higher income than before. She is also able to keep records as well as evaluating operation and production in order to determine pricing and marketing. In her village, Victoria is a model farmer who has strived to overcome the detrimental effects of climate change. She now understands well that as the climate changes, farmers need also to change. She understands that resilience is accepting the new reality even if it is less good than the one before. It is about being able to overcome the unexpected by striving to survive. Resilience in the face of adversity. Story by Hannah Kigamba

At Ngurumo village, Ntakira Location, Meru, she is known as queen of arrow-roots. Eunice Ngoki is a member of Meru Jitegemee group. After training on agro-ecological farming and need to revive indigenous seed and crops, Eunice decided to specialise on arrow-roots among other crops that had disappeared in the community. It was a time that many believed arrow roots could only be grown along river banks, but this was not the case for Eunice. With time, recognition of indigenous and traditional crops increased hence demand for these lost seeds rose. Eunice decided to specialise on production of arrowroot seeds in her community. Arrow roots have not only been part of her family diet but a source of income too. With a small portion of land (60 by 100m), Eunice makes approximately KES 1,600 ($20) a week from her farm. This inspired her to grow other varieties of indigenous and traditional crops and vegetables surrounding her house in a small portion of land. “Der Mensch ist, waseribt”.-A man is what he eats. This phrase could not be truer if you have not met Eunice. She has managed to feed herself and her family with a variety of nutritious foods from her farm. At her age, she is still looking very hearty than most women of her generation. She has endured the test of time, What is her secret? Indigenous foods! Through the programme, the socio-economic status of women in Meru has improved as a result of having enough and diverse foods to feed their families. This is because women are more affected than men by hunger and malnutrition. Therefore, in this international year of family farming, there is need to promote farming methods that are sustainable in terms of cost production (soil fertility) and easier to replicate. There should also be effective policies in place to enhance recognition and protection of variety of indigenous and traditional crops to reduce over reliance of fewer crops for food. This would go along in achieving MDG1 “eradicate extreme poverty and hunger”. Story by: Hannah Kigamba

“As a flower blossoms, so shall be my kitchen garden”, those are the words that keeps reminding her to put more effort in what she does. Agnes Wairimu is a member of Nyamutuagaki Women Self Help Group, one of the groups ICE started to work with through Climate Seed, and Knowledge (CSK) project in 2008. Through the project, community members were taken through agro-ecological training and organic farming, ICE also supported the groups with initial seed of crops and livestock to enable them to initiate livelihoods projects to enhance food security. During that time, some people had reservation in adapting the practices, some finding it as an uphill struggle especially in making organic compost manure. Being a wise woman, Agnes saw great opportunity instead of challenges. The need to consume fresh vegetables free of chemicals prompted this woman to start her kitchen garden several years back and ever since, she has nothing to regret. Today she is an inspiration to many. The sight of the green and big leafed vegetables that are eye-catching around this kitchen garden in Kamburu village is what provokes once appetite. Agnes only uses locally available materials and knowledge to carry out organic farming in her garden, what a sight!   It is out of this small kitchen garden that saved the life of her dear daughter, in fact to Agnes her kitchen garden is what she calls her office and her life. “My daughter used to be admitted to hospital due to lack of blood, since we started to consume these indigenous vegetables from this kitchen garden, she has never been admitted again over the problem” heartily mother proudly says.   What pleases the eye more often than not pleases the heart, this is no different in Agnes case. While other farmers fear to invest in such a venture of growing indigenous vegetables through organic farming, Agnes is able to make an income from the sale of these vegetables from her garden to other villagers and also from the two bags supply she makes to Nairobi each week. This brings joy to her heart as she gets to recoup some of the little costs she incurs in her farming and have income to cater for her family needs. As a role model farmer, she has stood out to prove that indeed small scale farmers can feed the world. She has challenged many women in her community that by hard work even small initiatives can deprive them from poverty cycle.   In her remarks, she thanked ICE for the support that has changed her and her family’s life. She is also a beneficiary of climate change adaptation initiative project, whereby thirty women were supported with 2300 litres of water tank each for water harvesting through a joint contribution of ICE and Nyamutuagaki women group.

The small garden occupying about an eighth of an acre is a beautiful sight to look at. On one side of the garden are neat rows of cabbages planted next to a bumper crop of beans inter-planted with maize. One can tell that the maize was planted recently because at the extreme end of the garden is a more mature crop a few months to harvesting. The fact that there is not a single weed in sight is not what amazes all who come to see Mary’s garden but rather that despite her blindness, she has been able to achieve so much. Mary is a member of Kamburu Disabled Persons Self-Help Group that seeks to help persons with disabilities improve their lives. For Mary, being blind has not meant the end of the world – if anything; she is now the true embodiment of the adage that disability is truly not inability. “We have come from far,” explains Samuel Mbatia, chair of the group. “We started way back in 2005 as an informal group attempting to bring together people who are visually and physically challenged to see if we can make headway in lifting ourselves out of poverty.” In 2006 the group was registered and to-date has twenty members, three of who are men and the rest women. The Institute for Culture and Ecology (ICE) came later and has since then been supporting the group identify and implement small-scale enterprises. “We always wanted to expand the range of activities we were involved in and so when ICE came in, they gave us ideas that looked promising and workable.” One of them was the establishment of a tree nursery of indigenous trees. “We approached our area chief to help us with a piece of land to start-off this idea and he agreed.” This was back in 2007 on a piece of land less than an eighth of an acre. Today the group owns a nursery established on more than a quarter of an acre with seedlings including food crops and fruit trees. It has now become a demonstration garden where neighbours and people from afar come to learn how to revitalise their soils through ecological farming; revival of indigenous seeds and the knowledge about them and tree planting. “During the month of October, we sold more than seven thousand seedlings,” says Mbatia. Mbatia is very optimistic that the path his group has taken will lead them to greater heights of achievement. Together, and in a small but significant way, they are helping to remove the stigma associated with disability. That they too can be important in nation building is indeed in no doubt.

It is apparent that the success a farmer gets from a certain crop is dependent on many other things besides just rain. In Masinga, the farmers have ascertained that apart from rain, fertilisation and cultivation, the method of land preparation also matters a lot. Techniques such as deep digging and double digging go a long way in ensuring a farmer gets the highest yield in a relatively small cultivated are. “Deep digging involves tilling the land a layer deeper than would normally be done,” explains Joseph Kioko. In deep digging the land is tilled twice the normal depth to loosen the soil and allow for better root penetration and even aeration. “You cannot achieve that kind of depth through harrowing. You need to till the land with a hoe,” adds Kioko. Double digging on the other hand involves preparing a small area measuring two by two feet where ten holes each two feet deep are made for planting maize. This can be made slightly bigger for kales and other greens. One might get the illusion that the farmers of Masinga are going back to old cumbersome ways of land preparation but considering the smallness of the land area utilised in the two land preparation methods and the yield obtained, one begins to see the economic sense in the whole approach. “The yield from this small area is higher and of a better quality than that obtained from a large harrowed area that is difficult to manage. We have now realised that we would rather till and manage a small area that stretch ourselves to a bigger area we can hardly afford to take care of. Tilling a small land area allows us to give it the very best of our attention. Using these approaches allows a farmer to concentrate efforts and resources in a small area hence producing superior yield. The farmers in Masinga have since been able to develop a seed bank with eleven seed varieties. “The small plots we develop can sustain our families and even afford us some surplus to sell to the local markets,” says Munguti Kavivya as he inspects a crop of millet planted on a deep dug plot.

James and Salome Wagara hail from Kamburu village in Central Kenya. The couple owns a small piece of land where they live and farm. Tea is a major crop here alongside dairy cattle keeping and chicken rearing. It has been tough these last few years for the Wagaras. “The rains have not been very reliable and our crops have failed – including tea!” Laments Salome. “When the rains failed, we began to irrigate our farms with water from the nearby rivers to salvage the little crop that was there.” But soon the rivers began to dry up. The nearby River Karigi disappeared completely. River Bathi further afield had some little water but it was too far away. “For the first time in a long time,” describes Salome, “I saw my neighbourhood disintegrate – friends became enemies as we fought over the limited water resources. It was bad.” Their tea crop and livestock were not spared either. There simply was no way of getting through the days. “Were it not for some few indigenous food crops we had planted, we surely would have starved,” says James. At their farm, James and Salome, with the help of a local NGO the Institute for Culture and Ecology (ICE), had managed to grow a variety of traditional crops such as sweet potatoes, arrow roots, bananas and a variety of greens like Amaranth. Most of these indigenous foods are known to be very hardy and can withstand harsh climatic conditions. These foodstuffs became the sustenance of this household. “…and the beauty of it all is that these crops require very little attention. With just organic manure you can always be assured of a bumper harvest,” said Salome. “In fact we do not even use any pesticides or fertilisers”, adds James. When they have surplus food, they sell it either in Githunguri which is about 10kms from Kamburu or at the famous Gikomba market in Nairobi. “When we feel we are being short-changed by the traders at Kamburu, we take our produce to Gikomba where we can fetch a better price for our produce. Indigenous vegetables are now a sought-after commodity in major retail outlets. They fetch more than six times the price of modern vegetables. “We can get up to KES 20.00 per bunch of Managu (amaranth) as compared to KES 3.00 per similar bunch of Kales,” explains James. In most cases, the farmers do not have to leave their farms to sell their produce. The high demand pushes the buyers to the farms. Since the re-introduction of indigenous food crops among households in this area, farmers like James and Salome are now guaranteed of a steady supply of food in the household and even extra income. If there is something the Wagaras do not regret ever doing over more than 20 years they have been together, it is taking the step to embrace indigenous vegetables. “I can now face the future with the boldness that my family shall never go hungry no matter what nature throws my way. Thanks to ICE,” says James.