With the ongoing climate change that has affected weather patterns, use of traditional farming methods and declining amount of land for tillage are some of the factors cited for food insecurity within East Africa.
Stakeholders drawn from 15 faith based organization who are meeting at Izaak Walton Inn Embu under the Canadian food grains bank(CFGB) have called for conservation agriculture and diversification of farming practices to increase food production.
The annual conference for networking by CFGB has brought together 100 participants from across the world to share experiences on different agro-ecological Zones.
John Kimathi from the Canadian grain Bank Kenya noted that the networking conference seeks to empower members to help farmers in their communities produce enough food and be able to access reliable markets for their surplus.
The stakeholders also noted that farmers in certain areas were not willing to take up new technologies and depended on old methods that affect food production.
Patrick Maina from ACCSS Church noted that they were also engaging the young generation through 4K clubs in schools to help them engage in better farming practices when they become of age.
Phidelia Munywoki from NCCK said they were also discouraging farmers from grazing in their farms while encouraging them to grow cover crops and reduce soil disturbance to increase yields from their farms.