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THE PROJECT

Conservation agriculture training for farmers in Kenya

The National Council of Churches Kenya (NCCK) developed an online training for farmers in Tharaka Nithi County, in eastern Kenya. Find out more about key insights, approaches and learnings.

BACKGROUND

The Conservation Agriculture Project began in 2016 as a collaboration between the National Council of Churches Kenya (NCCK) in partnership with Canadian Food Grains Bank, and the United Church of Canada.

Tharaka Nithi is a county in Kenya that suffers perennial food insecurity.
Most farmers are reduced to subsistence farming and scrape for survival due to low levels of disposable income.

The main causes of this are:

  • Drought and poor soil conservation
  • Reduced soil quality
  • Poor post harvest handling facilities and skills
  • Inadequate access to quality farm inputs
  • Inadequate agricultural extension services

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the project were:
  • Increased food production
  • Increased number of months of household food security
  • Increased adoption of conservation agriculture practices
  • Functioning community extension services design

CHALLENGES

COVID-19

Covid-19 was a major challenge as lead farmers were no longer able to organise farmer field schools. The lead farmers were also unable to visit group members for extension services.

NCCK agronomists could not visit farmers or lead farmers nor organise group trainings.

There was a reduction of market options for farm produce.

And finally, there were operational challenges such as lead farmers misplacing their training manuals.