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Shaping Environmental Conservation Through Networking

Besides the transfer of innovative agricultural farming technologies to farmers, the Institute for Culture and Ecology (ICE) is also involved in building the capacity of local institutions to champion the course of environmental conservation in their localities. In Machakos, it is doing this through the Masinga, Yatta, and Matungulu Advocacy Network (MaYaMa). MaYaMa was established in 2014 to provide a vehicle for collective bargaining by farmer groups from Masinga, Yatta and Matungulu sub-counties that are involved in the conservation of the environment and agriculture. The network is also sensitising farmers in general on the options available to them to combat the challenges of climate change such as water harvesting, enterprise diversification and conservation. The network is ably steered under the chairmanship of Kioko Wathome, a farmer who hails from Matungulu. “With the support ICE is providing the network through Enhancing Community Resilience to effects of Climate change (ECoREC) project, the project has managed to train us on best practices in farming including conservation agriculture, water harvesting and diversification into other enterprises such as vegetable and fruit farming, poultry and rabbit rearing and cattle keeping,” he says. “We are also working closely with relevant government arms to achieve our objectives,” he adds. In less than a year MaYaMa has managed to achieve a lot. “ for instance, we participated in the development of the Machakos Agricultural Development Fund bill where our inputs as representatives of farmers were captured and incorporated in the bill,” he explains. The network is also working closely with Water Resource Users Associations (WRUAs) to protect water catchment areas. In Syomboni in Kyeleni ward, MaYaMa undertook a major tree planting campaign to protect the collapsing banks of Athi river. “We planted over 2000 trees along the banks of the river to prevent further collapse during the rainy season. This has been affecting farming activities located near the river hence reducing yields,” he says. MaYaMa is also working to protect springs and other vital sources of water. Through MaYaMa, the community has been sensitised on the need to conserve water through the digging of trenches and water pans. “The farmers can then use this harvested water to do plant kitchen gardens and water their seedlings,” he adds. Judith Kaloki echoes Wathome’s words. Kaloki has been farming for over 8 years. “I grow a variety of indigenous food crops, vegetables and fruits,” she indicates. Besides being a farmer, Kaloki is also a contact person for ICE in Masinga. She holds a certificate in Agriculture from the Meru College of Technology, now a fully-fledged university and is a member of the Mwangaza Group. “Mwangaza group is a member of MaYaMa and currently has 15 members. Kaloki hopes that some of the technologies introduced by ICE will be adopted widely in the sub-counties. “Most farmers have put their newly acquired knowledge to good use however there is still a lot we need to do improve the uptake,” she feels. Groups need to be sensitised more on the long-term benefits of technologies such as Zai Pits considered to be labour-intensive. “This is where MaYaMa can play an important role of sensitisation to spur more adoption,” she adds. Kaloki also feels there is need to find ways of increasing youth participation. Their involvement will spur more youthful enthusiasm which will ensure continuity,” she observes. Farmers in Masinga, Yatta and Matungulu have seen the benefits of the power of numbers. Through networks such as MaYaMa, their voice can be heard even at policy level. They provide a crucial vehicle for collective bargaining which gives power to the local farmers to shape future development agenda in the sub-counties. “There is nothing more powerful than that,” comments Kaloki.

Fostering Technology Transfer Through Strategic Partnerships

Anthony Kioko, is the Ward Agricultural Officer (WAO) for Matungulu and Kyeleni wards in Machakos County in the new decentralised government system. In the former system, he would have been the District Agricultural Extension Officer (DAEO). Kioko first heard about the work Institute for Culture and Ecology (ICE) was doing in Machakos through one of the local forums. “It is in this forum that I realised the work ICE is doing is complimenting mine in many ways,” he says. As a government officer, Kioko is keen on promoting sustainable agricultural practices that do not put too much strain on the natural resources. ICE on the other hand is sensitising communities on the causes and effects of climate change and how to counter them. “We are basically different agents preaching the same message to the same farmers” he adds. That is how he bought into the idea of a partnership with ICE. Since then the relationship between ICE and the county government has realised a number of benefits including running a series of joint training events on appropriate technology transfer to farmers. “We have jointly trained in the areas of water harvesting, enterprise diversification and environmental conservation,” he explains. Through these training, farmers have learnt how to use Zai Pits in their cropping systems, harvest run-off from rain water into retention ditches and conserve the soil using terraces. “Through ICE’s support we have trained them on indigenous poultry keeping and commercial fruit farming as strategies for diversifying their farm enterprises,” he adds. Some of the fruits farmers are growing include passion fruits and grafted mangoes which are mainly for export. Kioko is upbeat about what the future of this partnership holds and he looks to brighter days ahead. “You cannot imagine what a simple technology like a Zai Pit can do to a region when well executed. We can now bank on the assurance of a harvest in an area that is largely synonymous with massive crop failures most of the seasons,” he says. Zai Pits are a technique used in cropping where 6 to 9 crops are planted in a single pit lined with compost manure to enrich the soil. The pits are then moistened with water to prolong the life of the crop in times of water scarcity. A Zai Pit measuring 2 feet in height, depth and width can hold 6 plants while the slightly larger 3-feet pit can accommodate up to 9 plants. Because of the concentrated level of water and nutrients in the pit, yields tend to be significantly higher than in a normal farmed crop. These technologies are proving effective in equipping farmers with the knowledge and skills to make better use of their locally available resources to improve their resilience against the adverse effects of climate change. “Nowadays farmers are no longer watching as run-off from the rains goes to waste. They are channelling this to their farms by digging retention ditches, trenches and in-between terraces that increase soil moisture enabling the crops to survive for longer than others. It has expanded their horizon of thinking by enabling them to venture into non-traditional food crops such as fruits and vegetables because of the availability of water for small-scale irrigation. Angelina Ndunge Munyao, a maize farmer and the chairlady of Kyeni kya Mithini group, who has 41 Zai Pits of her own, bears witness to this partnership. “For starters,” she says, “we are visited more by extension officers attached to the ICE project who come to monitor our progress and give us valuable inputs on our work. In my farm, for instance, I am nowadays visited twice a week,” she says. Ndunge is confident the level of awareness created through ICE’s training in the area will make the community more prepared to face the challenges of climate change more resiliently. “Most group members are now equipped with a range of techniques they can make use of to improve their yields through water harvesting, soil conservation and diversification of agricultural activities in their farms,” she beams. “The results of our good work are speaking for themselves. Heads are beginning to turn in the community as our neighbours flock to our homes to learn the secret of our success,” Ndunge adds smiling. Lawrence Musyoka and Grace Mumbua are two such neighbours who frequent her home. They have been engaged in farming for over two decades now and they know all too well the ups and downs of farming in the semi-arid Machakos. Musyoka began farming in 1996. He owns 2 acres of land where he grows indigenous food crops such as millet, green grams and cow peas. He also tries a hand at maize and beans. Mumbua, on the other hand, is slightly older in this occupation having began in 1994. She grows cow peas, millet, cassava and other indigenous food crops on her two acre piece of land. Both farmers, who are not project beneficiaries, have keenly been observing and admiring their neighbours’ farms from a distance for some time now. “The first time I tried planting my crops in Zai Pits I had very devastating results. I later realised that I had left out manure which is a crucial component in the success of this technology. After Ndunge pointed out the omission, I corrected the mistake in the next planting season and now I have a healthy crop,” beams Mumbua. Musyoka, on the other hand, found some of the water harvesting and soil conservation techniques farmers in the ICE project were using in their farms, such as the use of trenches, quite impressive. “I also liked the knowledge they had on the indigenous seed varieties that were best suited for growing in this area,” he adds. The availability of quality seeds has been a major challenge to farmers in Ukambani as Francisca Mbuli Kitheka, a member of Kithio Kya Mawithyololoko group, points out. ICE, through the project is addressing this challenge by not only promoting early maturing varieties but also sensitising the community on

Kitchen Gardens Providing Food Security and Income

“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.

Sacred Sites Critical to Biodiversity

For millennia, indigenous and local communities around the world have upheld the responsibilities of their great-great grandparents and their ancestors as the Custodians of Sacred Natural Sites and Territories. Sacred Natural Sites are critical places within ecosystems, such as forests, mountains, rivers and sources of water, which exist as a network embedded within a territory. Sacred Natural Sites are also of cultural and spiritual importance, as places where the ancestors’ spirits of the community reside, and are akin to temples or churches where the Custodians carry out ceremonies and rituals. Elders within the community play a vital role in upholding the ecological knowledge and customs practised over generations which maintain the well-being of Sacred Natural Sites, ecosystems, territories and local communities. These customary governance systems recognise Sacred Natural Sites and Territories as places where the laws of Earth can be read, and from which customs, spiritual practices and governance systems are derived to protect the territory as a whole. Therefore, Sacred Natural Sites and Territories are at the heart of ecological, spiritual and cultural practices, and governance systems of indigenous and local communities. Despite their vital importance, Sacred Natural Sites and Territories in Kenya, and across Africa, are faced with increasing threats of destruction from economic and other developments which have also eroded the customary governance systems of their custodial communities. The failure to respect ecosystems, and the Sacred Natural Sites within them, has a direct impact on the lives and well-being of communities of present and future generations of all life. This Report examines whether the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and the legal, policy and institutional framework in Kenya recognises and supports, or undermines, the rights and responsibilities of communities to govern and protect their Sacred Natural Sites and Territories, according to their customary governance systems and on their own terms.

Kamburu Gets a Second Chance

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.

When Small Makes Sence

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.

The Hill of Hope

Kivaa hill is not an ordinary hill to the people of Matuu as Mzee Munguti Kavivya, chairman of the sacred sites protection group says, “The hill represents the strides we have taken as a community to protect our fragile ecosystem.” “This hill”, he points out, “was the source of rich traditional remedies used by our fore fathers and their fathers before them.” But population pressure and other effects of civilisation saw the community encroach into the hill and clear land areas for settlement putting this rich ecosystem at the risk of extinction. “People cut down trees to clear land for cultivation and settlement,” he adds. This wanton destruction of the hill’s natural flora had far reaching effects on the people of Kivaa. “It first began with very erratic rainfall patterns we could not plan for and then one day, the rains just stopped. What was to follow was a long spell of drought and famine that nearly wiped the people of Kivaa off the face of the earth – the drought is one of the harshest and the longest in Kenya’s history. “When ICE came, we were desperate and hungry. We had no water and our source of herbal remedies was quickly fading away. ICE told us that the secret to our survival rested in the protection of the indigenous forest on the hill”. It was after realising the blunder that they had done that the old men of the village came together and with help from ICE, they started a concerted effort to protect what natural heritage was remaining and rebuild the hill’s lost glory. “We owned up to our mistake as a community and worked collectively to revive the forest,” says mzee Munguti. Strict rules and regulations governing the use of the hill were developed and each member of the community was tasked with the responsibility of ensuring these rules were followed. “Our government also helped us a lot because any time a person was caught breaking the set laws, our local chief was on hand to administer the law of the land to its full extent, says Munguti. Soon word spread that the hill should be left alone. Since then we have worked together to replant trees on the hill and our efforts are beginning to pay off. We are hoping that some day we can even transform this place to an eco-tourism site. Kivaa hill is now a treasure for the people of Kivaa. It occupies a sentimental place in their hearts and because of all the conservation efforts that have gone into it in the recent past, it will certainly continue to be a source of rich herbal remedies and the source of much needed rain.

Sweetness of Self-Sufficiency

Janerose Kairuthi and Judith Mwendwa have one thing in common – they are both members of Jitegemee Agricultural Development Group which was established in 2009. The group is involved in the cultivation of indigenous food crops, rabbit rearing and dairy cattle farming. The one hundred member group has come from far. “My husband and I used to travel to far places like Isiolo to rent land for farming,” explains Judith. This was an expensive venture in terms of land rates, transport to and from the rented land and hired labour. “Yet many were the times we did not harvest anything even after all that work, she adds. With the introduction of indigenous food crops and better and efficient ways of land preparation by the Institute for Culture and Ecology (ICE) life has never been the same for Janerose and Judith. “We are now self sufficient. We no longer have to go to the market for food,” explains Janerose. The group has learnt a variety of alternative uses for some of the indigenous crops they grow.\”We are making fresh natural juice from orange fleshed sweet potatoes,” Janerose adds. The juice is gaining popularity in the village among all ages. The group has also successfully made flour from pumpkins that can be used to bake a variety of snacks including the famous Swahili ‘chapatis’. “We have recently kicked-off a rabbit keeping enterprise after learning a lot about the business potential rabbits have from our counterparts in central Kenya during a recent exchange visit supported by ICE,” says Judith. A rabbit ready for the market can fetch as much as KES. 1,500.00. The group currently has about five indigenous rabbits in only a span of two weeks since the exposure tour and they intend to expand the number further. The extent to which the group can go to enhance the livelihoods of its members is limitless. Judith explains, “We have a drama club within the group that is normally invited to act out plays in public functions. Our plays are educative and generally highlight social issues affecting the community such as the challenges of food security and how to address them through the growing of indigenous food crops.” The group was recently invited by the Meru museum to perform at a function to promote the preservation of culture and practices of the local people. “Some of our performances have been featured on local vernacular radio stations such as Muuga FM and Mwaria Ma FM and we received a warm reception from the public,” adds Janerose. For these two ladies from Jitegemee group, it is now evident that life to them is not just about money and how much of it one makes, but it is very much also about quality of life. Through the use of efficient cultivation methods, use of natural manure as well as the use of indigenous unaltered planting material, it is possible to be food secure and to have surpluses to sell at the same time. “What is even more important is the fact that you and your household and the customers we sell to get to enjoy clean food,” adds Judith.

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