Meat Relief for the Hungry in Kyuso

By Musembi Nzengu and Hussein Salesa

Hunger-stricken residents of Kyuso in Mwingi north Constituency have for the last few days been treated to 'meat rations' by the Department of Livestock Production head by District Livestock Production Officer, Mr. John Wanjii.

In a programme dubbed Drought Mitigation Livestock off-take on Site Slaughter, the department buys cattle from residents, slaughters them and distributes the meat to famine-hit members of the community.

"The government has decided to cushion farmers who are likely to lose their cattle to the ravaging drought by buying cattle and slaughtering them to distribute the meat to the hungry," said Maina, DC Kyuso.

He however cautioned those whose animals have been purchased through the programme not to squander the money but keep it safely to buy other animals once the situation improves. Maina said the government was keen to ensure that no one succumbed to death due to hunger as adequate relief food was available.

Energy-Saving Stoves Project

By John Njue 

In most schools the provided food rations are prepared on the traditional three-stone open fire stove. Firewood in the urban setting is expensive and it is not unusual for urban schools to spend Kshs. 10,000-35,000 per month to cover firewood expenses. Parents are responsible for the provision of firewood at the school level. As many families survive on less than US$1 a day, the parental contribution required places a burden on the children.

In addition, studies show that excessive use of firewood and charcoal contributes to environmental degradation throughout the country. Between 1990 and 2005, Kenya lost 5%, or around 186,000 hectares, of its forest cover. Read Full Details

Prepare fodder early, for the dry season

Farmers can avoid dry fodder shortages by conserving it when it is plenty during the wet season.

If we go by recent weather forecasts, the country is likely to experience a more severe drought in the coming dry season beginning next month. Livestock farmers might face problems in getting fodder and pasture for their animals. But this should not be the case if farmers plan ahead to determine their feed requirements and take fodder conservation measures.

Farmers have been blessed with adequate rains since the beginning of the year. The rains have provided most parts of the country with plenty of pasture. It may be too late to prepare hay or silage now, but after harvest, a lot of crop residue from maize, beans and other crops will be available this month and December. A wise farmer can make good use of these residues and improve their nutritional value by properly conserving them. Read more>>

Farmer adaptations

Farmer adaptations

Many farmers are struggling to adapt to the changing climate. Joseph Meithya Kasawla, a 57 year old farmer from Kyuso, believes that people think only traditional crops such as maize grow in the region. These no longer do well with the increasingly poor rains, but many farmers are unaware that crops such as cowpeas would survive better in the drier conditions. Farmers also lack theseeds which are a critical farming input. However, some farmers are adapting by switching to fruit crops, particularly mangoes (see side bar).

The experiences in Kyuso are relevant to areas facing similar challenges:

· Farmers need information about switching to drought tolerant and fast maturing crops, and access to seeds

· It is important to promote water harvesting and demonstrate different techniques

· The storage of grain during bumper harvests is vital to provide enough food in poor seasons; processing this surplus can also add value and avoid wastage.

· Grain distribution centres, markets and local farmers can all help to improve the supply of seeds of promising cereal crops, so that people take advantage of the good seasons wherever they occur

The way to go.

Agriculture contribute very big percentage in Kenyan economy.There has been several changes in climate for the last numerous years. The rain patterns have changed, Some tree species ceased and the livelihood of people changed too.
Due to the changes agricultural techniques have changed. Most of people have started organic farming such as using manures, Non-chemical pest management and Afforestation
The programme is aimed at encouraging the farmers to adopt organic farming for better yield

Testimony of Joyce Mutiso-A Focal group members

"You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him/her to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives’’ this quote from Mr. Clay P. Bedford were the words spoken by Mrs. Joyce Mutiso After participating in a farmers’ field and exposure learning visit on seed handling and saving. ‘ALIN has helped me learn a lot from the visit’

The field and exposure-learning visit was held from 17th February 2011, it attracted participants 24 Non-governmental organization working with communities.

The exposure visit was organized by Participatory Ecological land use Management (PELUM) association and hosted by Kithio Kya Mawithyululuko and Institute for culture and Ecology (ICE)

The objective of exchange visit was to get exposure to different and diverse of seed conserved by Kithio Kya Mawithyululuko women group in Yatta, share knowledge, experience’s, lessons and creates Network as well as develop action plan of what to implements with respective groups 

SEED SYSTEM

SEED SYSTEM
Most of the seed in the recent past used by the small scale who form the majority of the farming population In Kyuso is either own saved seed .Some farmers uses seeds from the ministry of agriculture office where drought resistance seeds are given which includes Katumani Maize, sorghum, sweet potatoes ,cow peas ,green grams .The farmers here value this seeds in terms of the number of crop grown and maturity period .Education on growing crops of different maturity has been done to ensure regular food supply and spread of labour demand evenly during the seasons. The farmers use indigenous knowledge to preserve the own-saved seed such as using the local indigenous tree species such as Neem, pepper and finger euphobia. The labour in Kyuso is provided by the family and also the community where the residents are invited to assist in planting, weeding and so many activities. The local seed varieties is well adapted to specific conditions of the area but due to lack of rainfall for the last four years seasons there has been no seed in store and hence opted to the seed from the ministry .Ensuring the security of the seeds in the household is the responsibility of women although men are supposed to prepare storage facilities (granary) locally known as ‘Kisomba’ for both grain and seeds.

Where we are Heading to

There has been several cases of abortion in the world. This vice has caused several lifes of people. In Kenya Aphia II eastern started peer education in Schools where they train the students and pupils on the danger of abortion. The play was performed by Peers Nthangani Primary school in Kyuso district of Kenya.
It aims at enlightening the viewers on the dangers of Abortion.

Water situation in Kyuso

The video progamme aims at encourage people to adopt other water harvesting method such as rock catchment. The water situation in Kyuso which is in eastern province of Kenya is very severe since the only source of water was from earth dam and pans but now there has been introduction of rock catchments