Here you will learn more about some of our programmes.

As we have stated before increasing yields is important to us and that is wht NERICA was all about. This was introduced in Bungoma and the rice is also highly reponsive to nutrients. Most importantly this rice can prosper in swampy areas and is rain fed. This is a joint project with KARI and JICA. We hope to roll out this project beyond the current one hundred and fifty farmers if it proves to be succesful. This project will have a major impact on the local communities if it reaches its objective.

Helping farmers cut out waste and stop the cycle of over and then under production is vital. The reduction in creal stores has had an adverse affect on this area. With creral banks farmers are able to cut out middle men and ensure they get a more consistent and fair price for their goods. This practice also reduces waste dramatically. We promote the formation of community based organizations who will be effective at purchasing and banking of maize with enhanced market data. This has achieved a greater stability in pricing which in turn helps stabalize production levels.

With fantastic support from the Rockerfeller Foundation the MBILI project promotes intercropping of legumes with maize. This practice increases yields of both crops significantly. This also helps keep a better nitrogen balance in the soil one of our key objectives.

We are also proud of the Best Bets newtwork which has been around for six years and is concerned with managing soil fertility via over twenty management options. The project allows local farmers to choose their management process and compare which work best for them which empowers the farmer and makes them buy in to the process. This also allows the producers of the technologies to work together to provide the best solutions for farmers. Part of the project was tring to help farmers in the west of kenya with the Striga weed which was killing many of their crops. Along with other partners we pulled together a two hundred and eighty farm test to develop a technology to cobat the weed. This was a massive success and is now being rolled out to other areas.

As a component of Best Bets we have the striga network which focuses on the striga weed which is a particular problem for famers in West Kenya.

We have an excellent project called seed variety testing which uses a variety of seeds and fertilizers to see which produce the greatest yield. These trials are once again done on farms with farmers making informed decisions based on results. One of the major benefits for the farmers is they get to meet and discuss techniques with the seed producers increasing their knowledge in the process. It also helps the seed producers understand the needs of the local farmers.