Food and Farming
Kenya lies across the equator and annual rainfall over most of the country is surprisingly low and variable from year to year. However the Mwingi district lies on a low inland plateau which brings high temperatures all year and very low rainfall often below 250mm. p.a. Rainy seasons are March/April and October limited to This is because the intertropical belt of cloud and rain passes rather quickly across Kenya in April and October, therefore rainfall is limited to two short seasons in the year November/December.
The people of the Mwingi District are in the main subsistence farmers,
totally reliant on the few crops grown in their fields. However due to the poverty of the region they have no access to ploughs or any form of machinery. Their methods of growing are very simple, just make a small hole in the soil, pop in two seeds, cover and pray for rain, much as their forebears have done.
Due in part to the effects of changes in climatic conditions, the unpredictable rainfall does not help them with two year droughts quite common, and three years without any rain often causing great hardship. In a good season a family will manage to grow a crop to keep them in food most of the year, but more often the land will only yield sufficient for a few months, Consequently famine is a constant neighbour.
Initially, AAF supplied food rations to the poor in bad years, but gradually we are helping the people to get more from their land by growing a surplus in good years to provide for the lean years. This help is given in several ways.
Because many families cannot afford to buy ploughing teams of their own, or even hire one, we are breeding our AAF herd of ploughing bulls and buying a stock of ploughs. These are loaned to poor families (driven by our own ploughmen) to prepare the land for planting at the rainy seasons of November and April.
We also loan packs of seed to very poor families to enable them to crop their land. This is then returned to AAF from their new harvest.
A single donation of just £15 would buy enough seed for a family to plant next season
Because they lack knowlege of good farming methods, or access to ploughs or other tools, the yield for many of the poorest families is low even when there is sufficient rainfall. Our Argicultural Development Programme is now arranging teaching courses for poor families to learn better ways of growing from Kenyan instructors .
They learn :-
How to compost waste and animal droppings.
Terracing the land.
Crop Rotation.
Selection of crops and varieties.
How to store produce for longer.
Animal Welfare & Good Husbandry.
Rainwater harvesting.
At the end of each course, we encourage the members to form a self-help group, properly registered with the Kenyan government in order to access gov. grants which may be available. To help them get started, we offer the gift of a ploughing team (two bulls and a plough) to share in the group, and a starter pack of seed for each member.
A donation of £250 would buy a plough and two bulls for a self-help group
