MULTI-STOREY FARMING NOT JUST FOR URBAN AREAS

A multi-storey garden is an upright sack filled with soil, in which food crops like vegetables, kales, carrots or onions grow in its sides.

This kind of farming is considered an urban farming method especially for people without enough farming land. Although many residents of Isinya have considerably large sizes of land, they are unable to practice year round crop production due to water scarcity. This is further made worse with the ever increasing food prices and unreliable rainfall. Multi-storey farming not only makes efficient use of water but it is also safe from droughts and floods. The way I see it, this kind of farming might actually hold the key to sustainable farming and food security in arid and semi arid areas like Isinya.

 Women of Nassaru Ntoiye’s women’s group recently benefited from training on multi-storey farming. The training was facilitated by ALIN and conducted by Lois Gakuru an extension officer from the ministry of agriculture (MOA).

In order to make the sack garden, you need only a few requirements and to three hours of your time.

REQUIREMENTS FOR ONE 90 KG SACK/GUNIA

•   1 90kg gunia
•   2 wheelbarrows or 45 kgs of good soil
•   2 wheel barrows or 45 kgs of mature manure
•   1kg DAP (skip this if you are practicing organic farming)
•   ¼ bag of small stones
•   4 wooden stakes
•  Seedlings of kale or spinach
•   A can or tin with no bottom or top
•   Knife
•  Enough water

TEN EASY STEPS

Step 1

Indentify and prepare site to place the garden making sure it is flat.

Thoroughly mix the soil, manure and the DAP

Step 2

Tear the bottom of the gunia such that it is open on both ends

Step3

Use the 4 stakes to ensure that the sack stands upright.

Step 4

Place the bottomless can in the middle of the sack and fill with stones

Step 5

Fill the area around the can with the soil, manure and dap mixture

Step 6

Pull the can up, refill it with stones and fill the area around with the soil mixture 

Step 7

Water the soil mixture till it is well saturated (do this after every layer of soil mixture)

Step 8

Repeat steps 6 and 7 till the sack is full

Step 9

Make holes in the sack beginning from 1foot from the ground.

Insert a stick in each hole to form planting hole

The spacing between the holes across the sack should be one inch apart. You can use your hand to measure this, which is the distance between the tip of your middle finger and the tip of your thumb.

Step 10

Plant your seedlings in the planting holes on the side of the sack using a blunt stick

NASSARU NTOIYE AND THEIR NEW SACK GARDEN

QUESTIONS THAT CAME UP DURING THE TRAINING

WHY SMALL STONES?

The small stones in the middle of the sack not only enable for easy watering of your garden, but also enable aeration of the root area of the plant as well as providing a hold for the roots.

WOUNT THE PLANTS GROW FACING SIDEWAYS?

Remember that lower primary science and agriculture lesson where we learnt about phototropism????  That word ring any bells???? If it does then you know that the direction of a plants growth is determined by the direction of light source. As soon as the roots take hold the seedlings will stand upright towards the sun.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD THE GARDEN BE WATERED?

Preferably every evening. During the day a lot of evaporation takes place and plants therefore will not maximize water intake. You can also use the water you have rinsed your clothes in instead of pouring it.

SCHOOL OUTREACH PROGRAM ONE YEAR LATER

In a bid to enhance information sharing ALIN has established several Maarifa centers across east Africa which facilitates information sharing through a number of platforms such as free Internet access, publications and libraries. One of such centers s located in Isinya.

Early last year(2011) we received a donation by book aid which ranged from children’s book, novels, books on agriculture, human rights, gender, health... you name it, this brought  a lot of excitement among the Maarifa center users, in all this excitement we noticed that  for the longest time  the children’s books section of the library remained unused and even the children that regularly came into the center did not seem interested , this became cause for alert and it was time for affirmative action, if the readers can’t come to us then we shall go to them, this was the beginning of the school outreach program..

In this mobile library initiative a school is allowed to borrow up to a hundred books every day or more and is responsible for the books safety. We decided  to pilot the idea at Isinya primary school.

We first spoke to the then DEO Mr. David Ndungu and briefed him about the idea, he was so excited he gave us a list of other schools in the area. Then we approached Mr. Nyamwaro the head teacher at Isinya primary school and he received the idea with open arms when we informed him of our intention. He immediately designated a teacher “teacher Samuel Kong’ani” who would be the bridge between the Maarifa center and the school, the program rolled out instantly.

Within no time other teachers no longer had to go through teacher Samuel, they came straight to the Maarifa center and signed out books. And for those who had lessons later in the day they would give either the field officer or the volunteer details of books required such as which class how many books etc which would be prepared in advance.

The students now no longer need their teachers to borrow books for them, they comfortably march into the Maarifa center and borrow a book of their choice keeping the Maarifa abuzz with activities one such student is Lydia Awuori a standard 2 pupil she is in 2 blue and last year she was in 1blue she has borrowed a book almost every single school day since last year, this made me really curios on whether the books have been on any help to her. Lydia is really shy but finally she tells me that she was number 4.

Although it is extremely difficult to measure impact in such a situation Mr. Nyamwaro was of the opinion that the books may have to some extent contributed to the good performance of the school in last year’s KCPE, he also feels that the students have been greatly exposed.

And like they say “a good book has no ending” the same applies to the school outreach program, now we roll out in full force and with confidence.

HOW TO TREAT SOYA BEAN MEANT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION.

Soya is species of the legume like the bean but unlike most protein foods like meat and beans soya is considered a source of complete protein food because it contains all the essential amino acids.

Dried Soya beans

Soya can be eaten as stew, it can be roasted and ground into powder which is taken  as soya tea or mixed with porridge flour which is extremely nutritious especially for  young children or mixed with chapati or ugali flour or deep fried and eaten as a snack. Milk can also be extracted from the seeds. Just to name a few of its uses.

 Recently it has come to great attention that consumers of soya in Isinya have not been treating the bean. Soya contains a chemical known as trypsin inhibitors; these are chemicals that interfere with protein digestion in the body and may even cause pancreatic disorders. For human consumption soya beans must be treated in wet heat/ boiling water to destroy these trypsin inhibitors. It is for this reason that the ministry of agriculture’s (MOA) home economics department led by Loise Gakuru embarked on a soya treatment sensitization campaign.

Requirements

• Soya beans  (measured as per cooking requirement)
• Source of heat such as jiko
• Clean water
•  Clean sufuria

Soya treatment process

Step 1

Sort the soya to remove any discolored or spoilt beans.

Step 2

Bring water to boil.

Step 3

Pour a hand full of soya or less into the boiling water.

Loise Gakuru demonstrating how to treat soya

Notice that immediately the soya hits the boiling water the boiling subsides, wait for the boiling to resume then add another handful, then wait for the boiling to start boiling again before adding more this takes only a few seconds. Do this for the entire soya you intend to cook.

Step 4

Leave the soya beans to boil for at least 10 minutes

Notice that the seed coat of the soya comes out in the process.

Step 5

Pour out the water and prepare as preferred e.g.  Boil with maize for githeri, boil the same way you would boil beans, dry in the sun if you intend to dry roast them or grind them or any other way you may prefer to eat them.

Florence David translating the process to the elderly women

 It is important to note that all soya meant for human consumption should be treated this way.

By Njeri Kenyaggia

NASARU NTOYIE SAVING THE GIRL CHILD ONE BEAD AT A TIME

The Maasai are an asocial people where traditionally the woman is discriminated in social cultural, economic, religious and political aspects of life. The most gruesome of traditional practices in this community is female genital mutilation (FGM). This is a practice that has over the years has been attributed to bringing a lot of misery to the girl child as well as denying her a chance to an education since most of these girls are forcefully married off at a tender age. It is for this reason that in 1992 a group of bold women founded a group called Nasaru Ntoyie which is Maasai for let us save the girl child.

I had had a chance to talk to one of its founders Peninah Nasieku Tompo, adorned in the Maasai traditional wear she could easily pass for any Maasai woman. However there is nothing ordinary about Peninah also commonly known as mama Odu or mama Symo, is an extra ordinary woman. In Isinya and Kajiado at large she is a champion, a champion of the girl child’s rights.

Meet Peninah

At first glance she has a bubbly personality which hides her lifelong tale and burden she bears for her community. As I talk to her, this time not as casually as other days it strikes me that she is full of contagious passion.

Her story began nearly 40 years ago when a mzungu literally snatched from the hands of an ugly FGM and early marriage and this paved the way for an education. This experience opened many doors of opportunity for her something women in her community at the time could only dream of, it also enabled her to view the world around her from different lenses.

  Peninah now a  retired nurse and trained advocate is ironically a mother of 5 boys and one would then ask themselves then why the hustle to rescue other people’s children. She tells me that being a rescue case herself, it’s enough that she rescues other young girls as away to give back to society for changing her life for the better. She is also glad that the new constitution dispensation recognizes that FGM is a heinous crime.

Each member of the group is at task to make do some bead work which is later sold and a percentage of the money goes to educating girls who have been rescued by the group.

The road has not been without any bumps, Peninah has been threatened, criticized and even sometimes ostracized by her fellow women folk for the work she does, despite all this, vivacious Peninah cannot help but smile at the successes the group has had over the years, she tells me that a good number of girls that the group has rescued have now completed their university or college others working. The girls have also followed in her footsteps by rescuing girls in the villages they come from.

Peninah attends to a customer during an open day in Kitengela

Anyone who has seen a Maasai woman doing her bead work knows that it takes a lot of time effort and commitment, each bead goes in alone, but all beads together form an intricate design to be held at awe by all those who see it. In this same spirit Nassaru Ntoyie’s efforts will continue until each child is safe from FGM and forced early marriage and one bead at a time the group shall finally get there.    

Article written by Njeri Kenyaggia

Ardent farmer putting drip irrigation knowledge to good use

Noah Ng'otiek at extreme left attending to this farm

 

Drip Irrigation is a method of watering plants through plastic pipes called tapes. Single drops of water come out at a time to wet soil around the plants roots hence the name drip irrigation. This type of irrigation is common in this area because of its climatic conditions. The climatic conditions of Isinya and its environments are in arid and semi- arid regions thus making it more convenience to use it.

Mr. Noah Ng’otiek who is a farmer at Natala farm in Isinya, He explained that lately, there have been a lot of changes due to climate change; the rains have become erratic and the droughts more server. These changes have therefore drastically reducing pasture for his livestock, which for along time has provided a source of livelihood for him and his ancestors. It is for this reason that he decided to venture into farming something unique to the Maasais. He stated by harvesting water which he later on started using for drip irrigation as soon as he got information and training from Isinya Maarifa centre.

He cultivates onions, sukuma wiki (kales), cowpeas, capsicum (hoho) tomatoes, passion fruit and bananas, on large scale mostly for tender. Since water is applied straight to the root zone, there is a chance to apply nutrients along with the water.

Mr. Noah said that Isinya Maarifa center assists in provision of  knowledge for pastoralists to engage on other farming practices e.g. information on  agricultural farming through baobab and joto Africa publications ; through help of field exchange visits to other regions that practice latest systems in drip irrigation and dairy farming.

By Lydia Biri

FREE ICDL TRAINING

Beginning January /16 /2012 Isinya Maarifa Center one of ALIN's community knowledge centers embarked on a training program aimed at capacity building community members with skills in ICT for free.
by beginning of March 57 students had successfully completed the training.

We are currently training 54 more students at the moment and have already registered over 20 students for the May intake.

Isinya's District Education officer (DEO) Mr Ndungu Commended the center for  work well done.

FREE ICDL TRAINING TESTIMONIES