Blogs

 

Three PlantVillage Tanzania officials have concluded their week-long benchmarking trip to Kenya.

In African culture, children embody not only the prosperity and reputation of a family but also the transmission of essential values and traditions across generations. Sadly, the adverse impacts of climate change have shaken the stability of the African family institution, jeopardizing the well-being of children who face the risk of food insecurity and other basic necessities.

According to UNICEF, the Horn of Africa has witnessed a distressing surge in the number of children facing malnutrition, hunger, and thirst, with figures escalating by 40 percent from 7.5 million to 10 million between February and April.

Recognizing the urgency of the situation, PlantVillage, dedicated to assisting low-income families reliant on small-scale farming, has implemented strategies aimed at ensuring that the African child not only has access to food but also acquires knowledge and tools to address the climate change crisis.

PlantVillage has been collaborating with the people and county governments of northern Kenya on a strategic plan to help communities in the region lead normal lives in the wake of the climate change crisis.

 

The organization has gradually been introducing a number of projects with the involvement of pastoralist communities, and thanks to the PlantVillage Dream Team working in the region, once barren landscapes are slowly transforming into productive sites.

 

This has been possible through agroforestry, climate change clubs, the digging of soil bunds, irrigation, the Warrior View project, and the water harvesting initiatives.

 

Agroforestry

Rose Saniwa, the agroforestry project lead in Samburu County, notes that over 4,500 trees have been distributed in Isiolo, Samburu, Turkana, Narok, and Marsabit counties since the project began early in 2023.

 

Samburu County has received 3,600 trees, Isiolo 250, Marsabit 250, and Turkana 200.

 

The PlantVillage Agroforestry department is planting Azidarachta indica (neem), Melia volkensii, Terminalia brownii, and Senna siamea, because of their suitability for arid and semi-arid regions and ability to provide food for wildlife.

 

“It is hard for them to die once they reach maturity. Some, like neem, are used for medicinal purposes, while others, like Terminalia brownii, are used to feed livestock during drought seasons," Ms. Saniwa said. 

PlantVillage has scaled up the fight against fall armyworms by establishing parasitoids-rearing labaratories in Eldoret and Machakos counties in addition to the one in Busia County. The number of young experts has also increased from 13 to 23.

Kennedy Awueyo from Ondisore Village in Suna East, Migori County, is among thousands of smallholder farmers in Kenya who have benefited from PlantVillage’s efforts to democratize farming knowledge and technologies.

 

A team of PlantVillage research extension officers in Malawi is developing an AI model that’ll be helpful in combating Banana Bunchy Top Disease (BBTV), which has become a menace to farmers in the country.

The officers, who have been monitoring the disease in Thyolo, Lilongwe, and Dedza, have finished collecting images of infected plants to acquire a baseline to train a new model for the banana AI that will be incorporated in the PlantVillage Nuru app, just like it has already been done for other crops such as coffee, banana, cassava, and maize.

With the adverse effects of climate change taking a toll, it is clear that food insecurity occasioned by inconsistent and unpredictable weather patterns is a major scare that calls for immediate interventions by all and sundry to mitigate a further devastating outcome.

In Kenya, PlantVillage, through its Dream Team unit, has been engaging with local farmers and primary school learners in a tree planting initiative meant to restore green coverage and attract adequate rainfall to boost food production.

The agroforestry initiative under the banner 'green belt' is scaling up rapidly. Fred Ochola, a Dream Team agroforestry officer, notes that over 1.5 million trees have been distributed since the project's inception in July 2021, with this year alone recording a total of 275,700 tree seedlings distributed to farmers.

"We have exceeded our 1.5 seedling tree distribution goal that we had set for ourselves by mid this year; it has only been 5 months, and our total number of tree distributions has surpassed the 1.5 million target," Ochola said.

Irrigation farming mechanisms, lately introduced in Marsabit County in Kenya in a wide spectrum by PlantVillage, are a new intervention changing fortunes in the renown 'barren land' lying in the ASALs. The wick irrigation system of farming, newly introduced, is geared towards boosting food security in the region as well as changing the pre-formed mindset of the people concerning their land.

The PlantVillage team in Kenya has embarked on collecting data from the 70 cassava experimental plots set up in seven counties as the organization scales up its efforts towards solving the hunger and famine crisis plaguing sub-Saharan Africa.

PlantVillage’s movement to plant 3 million trees by 2023 to capture carbon and address climate risks and food insecurity is a blessing to smallholder farmers who are seen to reap from the lucrative business – growing and selling trees. One such farmer is Consolata Tata, 59, a widow and a mother of three children located in Ikapolok Village, Busia County, Kenya.