VERTICAL GARDENS: VERTICAL INCOME

Vertical garden innovation has brought about major breakthrough in urban agriculture. Land remains a key factor in production, however with increasing population and that land as a factor of production is limited in nature makes its access and utilization dwindle with time. Land use conflicts have formed African history from time of scrabble for Africa by white settlers to modern day conflicts. This calls upon innovations and creativity in land utilization both in rural and urban areas

Vertical gardens have brought about such needed solution whereby farmers in urban areas or those with limited land can still be able to farm of the space. The innovation makes use of PVC pipes in which crops are planted on holes made of the PVC pipes and then crops planted. Depending on the size of the PVC pipes and the strength of the base, different numbers and variety of crops can be planted

PROCESS OF ESTABLISHING VERTICAL GARDEN

Stage 1

A PVC pipe of different size and shape is acquired and trimmed to required size. It’s then corked from both sides to ensure that no leakage of soil water and manure. Holes are then made on one side of the pipe, the spacing of the holes is dependence of crops to be planted on the vertical garden. The PVC pipes can be easily acquired from hard ware stores and super markets.

Stage 2

Strong support system for the pipes is developed. This can be made from metal bars or wooden posts. This ensures that the PVC pipes are suspended horizontally on the space and irrigation can be carried out without water flowing out. Drip irrigation kit is then established with water tank of convenient size place above the vertical garden and drip lines passed through the PVC pipes with tiny opening for ensuring convenient water drops to irrigate the crops. In case the drip line system is not convenient then the vertical garden can be irrigated manually.

 Stage 3

The PVC pipes are then filled with mixture of manure and soil. However the soil mixture needs not to be compressed to allow easy root penetration for the crops. Crop seeds or seedlings are then planted on the holes made on the PVC and irrigated depending on their water requirement

Advantages of vertical gardens

1.     There is maximum water efficiency because water is only put at the crop base either through drip system or manually

2.     Does not require much space since the garden takes vertical extension instead of horizontal extension

3.     Requires minimal maintenance costs because once it has been properly installed no much work is needed in future

4.     Materials for establishing vertical gardens are easily available i.e. PVC pipes, soils, manure, metal bars and wooden posts

5.     Does not require skilled labour for its development and it’s not labour intensive

Conclusions

Vertical gardens have proofed to be convenient innovation for household vegetable requirement. In urban settings, they can be developed on balconies and verandah while on rural areas they can be established within the homestead compound. In public utilities such as schools, hospitals and churches such garden can provide convenient subsidies for vegetable requirements and save the money which would have otherwise been spent to acquire such vegetables. Inades Formation Kenya has supported two groups in Mwala and Matinyani who have installed similar vertical gardens and have lauded then innovation as the future for small  scale farmers in arid and semi arid areas and urban population      

Article by

Andrew Muendo Nyamu

Project Officer- Inades Formation Kenya

Email: nyamu1895@gmail.com

Phone number: 0722962986   

www.andrewnyamuconservation.blogspot.co.ke

MEDIA ADVOCACY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION-LESSONS FROM WANGARI MAATHAI

EYE FOR EYE IN MAKUENI AS SAND CARTELS BATTLE WITH ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS

Sand resource has provided a battle field between enforcement officers and sand harvesting cartels in Makueni County over time. Sand is backbone in rural agriculture ventures in arid and semi arid areas.  Sand forms in slow processes in many years but is often extracted very fast it accumulates in river beds following erosion from upstream. Sand is harvested and is used in the construction of roads, land reclamation, and buildings globally. Development of these projects provides both economic and social benefits to the local communities e.g. provisions of employment. The increasing demand for these development structures coupled with the slow sand formation processes, can qualify it as non-renewable resource.

With ever increasing demand for sand in the construction industry, our rivers which form the main source of water for rural communities are becoming vulnerable day after day. In Makueni sand seems sweeter and lose of life and destruction of property come secondary to sand harvesting efforts. Mukaa Sub County the menace seems to have taken roots and efforts to stop the practice have borne no fruits. Makueni governor Professor Kivutha Kibwana and Mukaa sub county administer Wambua Muthoka have been on the lead to ensure the practice is stopped but sand cartels and armed youths remain defiant.

Makueni county is strategically vulnerable due to its location near major towns of Nairobi, Machakos, Thika and Athi River. The construction of standard gauge railway stretching over 100KM in the county has increased the demand while Nairobi Mombasa highway offers good transportation for the sand from the rivers to market. The creation of Sand conservation and utilization authority board offered the much anticipated retrieve but with time the performance of the authority and board remain moribund.

Dangers of sand harvesting

1.     Water pollution by Lorries

When Lorries carrying sand pass river bed, they leak oils in the water. The leaking fuel consists of heavy metals such as lead, mercury and sulphur which results to toxicity of water resource. This polluted water ends up in human consumption and aquatic ecosystem causing sicknesses and loss of life

2.     Induced soil erosion

There are no permanent roads to access sand rivers and thus the truck for carrying sand trespass farm lands and path ways; this loosens the top soil which becomes susceptible to soil erosion agents such as wind and water. Soil erosion leaves behind infertile soils which are not suitable for agricultural production thus increasing the vulnerability of the recipient community. 

3.     Reduced water retention capacities by rivers

Sand is the main resource that holds water in the rivers and when excessively harvested, the water retention capacity is reduced and at times the river completely dries up. Consequently this leads to scarcity of water to the community with high repercussions such as reduced agricultural activities, walking long distances in search of water hence loss of time and energy, loss of aquatic organisms and reduced vegetation cover leading to advanced effects of climate change through global warming and mal-adaptations

4.     Destruction of infrastructure

Sand harvesting do result in destruction of roads in the targeted areas and other utilities such as electricity and telecommunication lines. Lorries used to carry the sand are relatively heavy for the weak feeder roads available in rural areas and end up making such roads impassable and creating high soil erosion. Other infrastructures such as bridges and gabions are destroyed during the sand harvesting process. The cost of repairing and maintenance of these public utilities is comparatively high to the benefits of sand harvesting  

5.     Resource use conflict

Sand resource commonly falls as community resource with no clear guidelines on who is mandated to protect it; this makes it vulnerable as no one takes full responsibility of protecting the resource. As the community members, local authority and law enforcement officers squabble for the resource, conflicts are bound to occur. This has been a case in Makueni county where armed youths and police officers have been engaged in running battles to harvest sand. This has lead to loss of property and life’s. In the last one month a number of community enforcement vehicles have been torched and officers injured during sand harvesting encounters. The determination by the youth to attack enforcement officers shows the value attached to the sand resource.

Conclusion

One of major responsibility of any government is to protect the its citizens and their property, loss of life and destruction to communities in full glare of government officers creates fear and despondency. Sand remains a resource in Makueni and its protection from sand cartels is primary to the government of the day. When rivers have dried and community members are starving the sand cartels will have made their profits and disappeared, this call upon every actor in Makueni to step up their efforts to ensure the water reservoirs in form of sand resource in Makueni County are protected.  The community members hold very important key in the sand harvesting menace, them being the custodian of the resource, their unity in save guarding the resource is key to curbing sand harvesting menace

Article by

Andrew Muendo Nyamu

Project Officer- Agriculture Innovations and Climate Change

Inades Formation Kenya

www.andrewnyamuconservationcentre.blogspot.co.ke

contact: nyamu1895@gmail.com/ +254 722962986

WOMEN INCLUSIVITY; CORNERSTONE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

For ages, women have been subjected to back seat when development issues are being discussed. African culture and traditions have disadvantaged women who have been left to perform demanding yet perceived insignificant chores at household levels. Traditionally women were embedded to cook, take care of children, collect firewood and remain submissive and indecisive to their know-all male counterparts. Similarly, men were believed to be God chosen leaders who were bestowed with sole mandate to make decision regarding property ownership, chiefdom and kingdom selection, property acquaintance and disposal and marital decisions such as number of children to be born, number of wives and wife inheritance matters

The trend seems to change in unprecedented rate as whole world stares at very possibility of World Super power nation endorses female president Hillary Clinton to join the league of Theresa Mary May the prime minister of Britain and Angela Markel the Chancellor of Germany. Africa is not left behind as Ellen Sirleaf Johnson is at the helm of Liberia, a leadership which has seen sanity and rule of law back to the country. Catherine Samba Panza led Central Africa Republic between 2014 and 2016 while Rose Francine Rangombe led Gabon between June and October 2009. The list of women who have been presidents in Africa includes likes of Agnes Monique Bellepeau from Mauritious, Joyce Hilda Banda who took over from Bingu wa Mutharika in 2012 and Sylvie Kinigi who lead Burundi between 1993 to 1994. Confidence and respect for women in power and leadership position in Africa was crowned by election of Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma as the chair of Africa Union commission

In Kenya women have made remarkable strides from dark past to limelight both in private sector, public leadership and political position. The appointment of Nyiva Mwendwa to cabinet position in 1995 took male chauvinists by surprise but was the beginning of women presence in leadership positions which is now entrenched in the 2010 constitution. Performance of women in leadership position has proofed that they can do what men may find hard to actualize. News of Appointment of Professor Olive Mugenda as the vice chancellor of Kenyatta university in 2006 while I was a student at the institution were received by university fraternity with doubt and contempt as male counterpart competitors for the position looked more deserving. For the time Professor Mugenda was at the helm, she out shadowed what Late professor Eshiwani and Prof Shitanda did and transformed the university to world Class University. Mugenda is not alone in venturing in male dominated  fields, Tabitha Karanja has whipped East Africa Breweries Limited the sole dominancy in beer industry unapologetically while Martha Karua remains one of feared and respected ‘man’ in Mt. Kenya region. Uhuru Kenyatta administration raised the bar even higher when he appointed six women to cabinet secretary positions some taking lead of very influential and powerful dockets including devolution and planning, defense and foreign affair dockets held by Anne Waiguru, Rachel Omamo and Amina Mohamed respectively.  

In community development front, women have provided the most needed workforce either freely and below market rates. Family farming which feeds over 70% of world population according to World Rural Forum statistics 2013 is most dependent of women labour who toil to ensure their crops are planted in time, weeded and manure applied and taken care from pest and diseases and harvested. In most African societies men make the decisions while women implement such decisions without or with little consultative amendments from their male companions. In pastoral communities, women are left to own poultry and at times sheep and goat while men own camels, cattle and donkey which bring incomes in terms of labour and sells when they are disposed off to markets. Even when the women may own some property and even income they remain highly influenced by men and thus low homegrown development initiatives in rural communities

In recent past women have clustered themselves in self run and regulated micro finance initiatives which have offered much needed and deserving source of income in rural areas. With input from H.E Rachel Ruto who has made the initiative more popular, women now are key players in rural banking. These initiatives have seen women be able to afford household items such as cooking wear, school uniform for their children and school fees, and more regular and nutritious meals to their families. Through loans and financials savings from their groups’ (chamas’) women are able to start business and earn income and decent lives. Inades Formation Kenya, a Non Governmental Organization working in counties of Machakos, Makueni and Kitui has been able to mobilize over 3000 residents who have joined hands to form microfinance units known as Solidarity Fund for Rural Development (SOFDEVs) units with revolving fund base of over Kshs 40,000,000. This initiative has transformed the community big deal in terms of health, education, nutrition and agriculture sector and reduced dependency on working relatives as community groups and individuals are able to safe for the future and unwelcomed uncertainties

For any community, be it in developed countries, developing, war torn regions, rural or urban to realize sustainable development, women need to be placed in their right positions as the current trend has proven that they can do what men have done and even in better. Previous closed opportunities for women need to be availed to them so that they can optimize their contribution in nation building.

Article by

Andrew Muendo Nyamu

Project Officer- Inades Formation Kenya

Email: nyamu1895@gmail.com/ www.andrewnyamuconservationcentre.blogspot.org

Phone number: 0722962986   

WATER EFFICIENT VEGETABLE FARMING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE RESILIENCE IN ARID AND SEMI ARID AREAS

Vegetables remain a key component in household food consumption on daily basis. Although they are not main meal they provide accompaniment to the staple food. Major vegetables which have remained basic in households include Cabbage, kales, spinach, onion and tomatoes.  These foods provide much needed nutrient contents to human bodies especially children and their availability remain significant in every meal. Provision of these vegetable has remained challenge to rural areas in arid and semi arid areas where rainfall is both erratic and unpredictable. In efforts to acquire this keys food supplements household spent much of their hard earned income to provide. In average household in rural areas spent about Kshs 50 to provide vegetable which is on the higher limit compared to income levels.

Despite the low rainfall and high temperatures received arid and semi arid areas, vegetable farming has proved to do well in the area with minimal water requirement since none of the vegetable is water guzzler. Inades Formation Kenya has been working with rural communities to promote Climate Smart vegetable farming using three models applicable to residents of arid and semi arid areas which receive low rainfalls. The models are sunken beds, raised beds and planting pits

SUNKEN BED

A sunken bed is a planting bed established below the land level to ensure maximum utilization of moisture content by the crop with minimal. The dimensions ensure that person attending the sunken bed can comfortably work without stepping on the bed. To ensure that they do not lose the fertile top soil, once the excavation is done the sub soil is replaced top soil. A sunken bed can be of any length depending on the crop to be planted and water availability, however the width and depth need to be monitored to ensure that they do not get water logged or someone does not have to step on the crop base while irrigating. Mulching should be considered as it ensures that there is minimum water lose through evaporation

RAISED BED

A raised bed has similar characteristics with sunken bed; however it’s an upward projection of soil matter above the normal ground level to ensure maximum utilization of water by crop with minimal external dependence from untargeted consumer. To ensure that the crops are stable and do not expose their roots or fall off the bed and wither, the crops are planted 30cm off the edge of the bed and the edges are made slightly above the normal the rest of the bed. To ensure maintenance of the soil fertility the raised beds are dismantled after four to six planting seasons and reworked again. In both sunken and raised beds, crop rotations is highly encouraged to ensure maximum nutrient utilization because different crop varieties have different nutrient requirement and to dispel habitual disease and pests which may capitalize on one crop variety.

PLANTING PIT

Planting pits have proved to be a solution to extreme water shortage because they have minimal water lose due to their nature of establishment. A hole is dug convenient for the type of the crop to be planted. Upon being dug, the right mixture of soil and manure is done. The planting pit provides amnesty for the crop from attack by pests while at same time reducing maintenance of the holes. Planting pits can work well in farm terraces which are largely underutilized by the farm owners. Crops and fruits trees like bananas, papayas and mangoes are the best suited for them, however vegetables are also suited

ADVANTAGES OF SUNKEN BEDS, RAISED BEDS AND PLANTING PITS 

1.     They have minimal maintenance labour requirement because upon establishment it only needs re-establishment after several seasons of farming

2.     There is maximum water efficiency because water is only applied to the crops hence full efficiency by the crop

3.     They provide cheap and healthy vegetables which has minimal chemical contamination and fresh by time of utilization at household levels

4.     They act as source of income at household levels because they provide vegetable which would otherwise have been bought from the market and also surplus can be sold to provide much needed income

5.     Vegetables provide much needed nutrients which are essential for human body and their easy availability at household levels is a recipe for a healthy nation