The Kiambu Event: Managing Resources in Small Farms

The local organizer of the Kiambu Countrywide Event held on 4 November 2003 was the Kenyan Smallholders Advancement Group (KENSAG), together with the local departments of the ministries of agriculture, environment and culture. KENSAG is a community-based organization that has over the years collaborated with FORMAT to promote and advance the activities of small-scale farmers in Kiambu district. The group collects and disseminates agricultural information and technologies to local farmers through farmer-to-farmer visits, field days and workshops. It is also involved in the marketing of farmers’ milk. The event was hosted jointly by the St. Philip’s ACK Church, Kihara, as part of the church’s community development activities. The event served two purposes, first it enabled KENSAG to offer service to its members and local community and secondly, FORMAT was able to tap into the CBO’s local network and used it as a platform to reach other several grassroots organizations, agro-based micro-enterprises and farmers. The proximity of the venue to Nairobi attracted the participation of some international and national NGOs, and universities with programs in agriculture.

The turnout by members of the public was enormous, requiring that both exhibitions and presentations be conducted simultaneously. There were 51 invited participants drawn mainly from Kiambu and Nairobi, and backed by the team of 13 core participants. A total of 59 exhibits were presented on value-added processing, soil fertility management, traditional foods and plants, livestock management, information dissemination, waste management and resource conservation. Participants arrived early, set up their exhibits and gave their presentations as scheduled. The visitors engaged speakers and exhibitors in intensive discussions. An exhibit by Jane W. Thuo of 3KM Self-help Group on “Processing Amaranth Seed into Flour and its Food Products”, won first place. Second place was awarded to Njogu Kihara of Mulaa Fruits from Nairobi for the exhibit “Bee Keeping”, and third place went to Peter Njoroge’s for “Organic Farming of High Value Vegetables: Lettuce, Spinach, Tomatoes and Cabbages”.

Participants appreciated the event’s role in filling the gap left by shortcomings in local  extension services. Several farmers who attended are largely involved in crop-dairy enterprises and recommended another event focusing on smallhold livestock production and marketing during 2004. All presentations except one were made using PowerPoint. It was suggested that the FORMAT book be translated into Kiswahili and that presentations in future be made in the same language to better benefit farmers. Following the event, EM Technologies (Kenya) identified KENSAG for local distribution of its EM products and liaison. EM Kenya is also conducting experiments with large-scale dairy farmers identified during the event. In addition, two television documentaries were shot at the venue by the Kenya Television Network. The features on “Processing Amaranth Seed into Flour and Its Food Products” by 3KM Women Group and “Fuel from Avocado” will be broadcast during the station’s “Bongo La Biashara” program.

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