It is high noon at Kennedy Ngoma’s farm although the cool breeze blowing through gives visitors a sense of nature’s comfort.
His farm is a mosaic of exotic and indigenous trees such as Calliandra, African cherry, Casuarina, Grevellia, Markhamia, Croton and Cordia Africana among others.
Mr.Ngoma’s farm is modeled on agroforestry, the concept of growing beneficial trees and food crops on family land which provide food, fodder, timber, fruits, medicinal plants, organic fertilizer, among other benefits.
With grown trees, a banana plantation, maize fields, fruit trees including pawpaws, citrus, gooseberries and oranges and tuber crops such as cassava and arrow roots, and fresh vegetables plus cows and chicken, the 35 year old completes the cycle of integrated farming.
Ngoma is a beneficiary of a project that brings together tens of thousands of smallholder farmers in Arid and Semi arid parts of, Kajiado ,Siaya, Bungoma, Samburu, Laikipia and Nyeri counties using their previously unproductive land to grow trees for fodder and firewood and to sell as timber in commercial markets.
The agronomy practice is being promoted in the country by Participatory Ecological Land Use Management Association (PELUM) Kenya in partnership with ViAgroforestry, a Swedish Non Governmental Organization.
The NGOs have also been training farmers on natural cropland management techniques of preserving soil such as covering crops, mulching, crop rotation and compost management.
Farmers incorporated in the project have also planted in excess of 500,000 indigenous and exotic trees through agroforestry practices to help in nitrogen-fixing in the soil.
“Most farmers in this neighborhood have trees on their farms, which they can use for timber or firewood thereby minimizing their chances of encroaching on forests.
However, we discourage growing of soil water depleting trees like eucalyptus in certain places. Such trees are good for income generation because they mature fast and have huge biomass, but they must never be grown anywhere near rivers or water bodies,” Mr.Ngoma observes.
The farmer indicates that most locals are now aware that growing new trees naturally captures carbon dioxide in the atmosphere —known as carbon capture — reducing pressure on natural forests by providing a stable and sustainable source of local wood that generates long-term income for smallholders.
Ngoma’s farm teems with nitrogen-fixing trees and those whose leaves can be used as fodder for livestock.
He says that if a farmer feeds cows with three kilograms of Calliandra, it produces a similar quantity of milk and of better taste than using three kilograms commercial feed. Fodder trees ,he adds ,are providing farmers with the best opportunity to adapt to climate change.
Ngoma also trades in non–timber forestry products from the trees that include medicinal extracts, spices and herbs.
He observes that the agroforestry agricultural system is improving rural household incomes as it yields more than one product annually. Ngoma states that whereas relying on a single crop tends to lead to food insecurity, a diversity of crops presented by agronomy can give farmer families a more nutrient-rich diet and close the hunger gap between harvests of staple crops.
He adds:“This method increases ecosystem services such as biodiversity, erosion control, drought resilience, carbon sequestration and increased soil moisture. At the same time, it provides increased yields of nutritious food, medicine, shade, fuel, fodder, compost material and more.”
According to Programme Officer, Advocacy and Communications at PELUM Kenya Ms Mary Irungu, agroforestry has been well-known in many traditional contexts since a very long time. Yet, the method remains grossly underutilized.
The main challenge of adopting agroforestry among many smallholder farming families, notes Ms.Irungu, is the lack of a clear policy framework to define, host and spearhead a scaling up.
“Agroforestry is currently not coordinated properly in many countries. Consequently, farmers struggle to access inputs, finance, extension- and advisory services, as well as markets. Policymakers can rectify the situation and create an enabling environment for adopting and scaling up agroforestry to meet food and nutritional security goals in communities and societies,” Ms.Irungu notes.
She calls on policymakers, the private sector and civil society to help agroforestry take its rightful place in policies, plans and budgets to secure the right to food in a time of crisis.
To aid in this urgent task, Ms.Irungu urges the media to reach out to policymakers as well as producers and consumers with information about the benefits of agroforestry.
“As governments craft their development blueprints – locally, regionally and globally – we urge them to give agroforestry priority and to invite agroforestry producers to help shape sound policies and practices for everyone,” the Programme officer petitions.
She explains that targeted farmers are being encouraged to grow and conserve trees as one way of protecting biodiversity, which includes important insects, indigenous plants, birds and animals used for pollination.
“But that is not all, if you do not grow and conserve trees there will be no sufficient rainfall. For instance, if you look at the situation in Mau and around Mt Kenya, we have been experiencing water stress due to deforestation. In fact, all the six water towers in Kenya are under stress because of deforestation. Failure to conserve trees, therefore, means we will not have water in the rivers not only for agriculture, but also for domestic use,” MsIrungu observes.
She advises county governments to channel more investments and resources in agroforestry which will provide numerous opportunities for income generation and betterment of livelihoods. “There will also be other opportunities around the agroforestry value chain including transport, design, processing, packaging and marketing among other support services.”
Global actors like the Food Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have already touted agroforestry as a viable means to help reach zero hunger by 2030 – a goal all countries have committed to under the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
67 year old Florence Okumu indicates she earns over Shs 300,000 every year from sales of farm produce including milk, fruits, honey and trees and training other farmers on integrated farming, in the program fronted by PELUM Kenya and ViAgroforestry.
Ms.Okumu maintains a neatly-trimmed fence of wild sunflower on her five acre farm that may be mistaken for a weed. It is not.
“The flowers are harvested when mature, chopped into small pieces and strewn on the farm during planting as fertilizer. The sunflower chops decay fast and release potassium, phosphorous and nitrates in the soil, the same nutrients that are contained in commercial fertilizers. I cannot remember the last time I went to the shops to buy fertilizer,” says Ms.Okumu. The farmer also combines her kitchen wastes and cow dung for compost manure.
Ms.Okumu, a member of ‘Tulieng Women Group’ plans to use the decayed matter in future to produce biogas for cooking and power the machine for cutting fodder. The residual dung is used as manure.
She uses the podo tree for shade and timber when they mature, and at the edge of her kitchen is another shrub, which she says repels mosquitoes when flowering, saving her the cost of bed nets.
“The growing of trees on farms – can benefit women and improve household incomes. Women in Kenya are more likely to participate in agroforestry that is considered to be of little commercial value such as the collection and processing of indigenous fruits and vegetables. Across the country, men are migrating away from farms to earn money, making women more responsible for rural incomes,” explains the farmer.
She adds that women involved in agroforestry are saving up to 3 hours a day in labour time because they have access to homegrown fuel wood, freeing them up for other productive activities.
Ms.Okumu reveals that some members of ‘Tulieng Women Group’ are making extra income through the sale of juice processed from indigenous fruits adding that replenishing soil fertility and reducing the incidence of weeds through agroforestry practices is also attractive to women farmers because it involves low inputs but high returns.
“These women are earning greater incomes and are using this money to pay school fees and improve the nutrition of their families,” says Ms.Okumu