Kenya, Africa

KEN07c - DOVE Africa - Got Osimbo Community Development: Partnership Reports

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Report Date: April 22, 2020

Report from Two Training Sessions Conducted by Jesse and Francis

Nyapalo Foundations for Farming Training

keen to learn We held a Foundations for Farming training in a place called Nyapalo on 10-15 February.

This is a region that borders Lake Victoria and experiences rainfall that is slightly distributed throughout the year. The people here practice mixed farming, rearing both livestock and growing food crops. They grow a variety of food crops which includes sweet potatoes, maize, beans, groundnuts and vegetables among other field crops. These crops are grown both for income generation purposes as well as consumption domestically. They mainly are small scale farmers and plough using oxen and also manpower.

During the training, we had a total of 7 people and the training ran for three consecutive days. Since it was a field preparation time for planting, most people were busy plowing. The 3-day training was a success such that at the end they were convinced the Foundations for Farming method works, they still also on the other hand had their doubts wanting to see tangible results before implementing.

For the above reason, we are planning to go back and have a demonstration plot so that they could learn and observe from there practically.

Nyakach Foundations for Farming Training

keen to learn On 3-5 March we again had a Foundations for Farming training in Nyakach which is also a region that is on the lake side. The people here also practice mixed farming and are small scale farmers. The crops grown here include maize, sugarcane, sweet potatoes, beans, and vegetables among others. These are for both income generation and consumption.

The people use oxen and manpower to do the plowing since they own small pieces of land.

During the training, we had 20–30 people for the three days. Training was done in a local church whose leaders were the organizers. The age group of those who attended the training ranged from those in their 30s to some who are in their late 60s.

keen to learn It was encouraging to see how they participated during the sessions. Even on the last day it looked like they wanted us to continue. We are talking to their leaders to see how we can do follow ups and help them to implement the Foundations for Farming practices fully since this is what their leaders suggested and want.

We are hoping that the coronavirus pandemic will soon come to an end so that we can continue where we left off among these communities.