Women-dominated Rwandan seed cooperative wins ag prize

Sylvia Mwichuli of AGRA awarding one of the winners

By Isaiah Esipisu

ACCRA, Ghana (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A group of smallholder farmers from the south of Rwanda has won recognition for its efforts to supply the government with high-quality seeds that are improving yields of maize and legumes all over the country.

Impabaruta, a cooperative of smallholder farmers in Kamonyi district in the county’s Southern Province, has been named the 2013 African Farmer Organisation of the Year, beating over 60 contestants from all over Africa.

Agriculture, energy ministers need voice in climate decisions - experts

By Isaiah Esipisu

WARSAW (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – For the past 20 years, negotiations on how to combat and adapt to climate change have been led by environmental ministers. But the decisions made affect a country’s agriculture, energy and finance systems as well.

Now, experts say, it’s time for other players to be involved in the process, particularly when it comes to deciding how to most effectively spend available funds.

Africa's strategy at the climate talks needs a rethink

By Isaiah Esipisu

As the negotiations at the highest decision making authority on how to tackle climate change enters the critical political stage, the outgoing chair of the African group of negotiators has warned if African ministers do not remain vigilant, decisions will be taken without their inputs.

“We have already done our technical part in the negotiations, and we are already advising the ministers accordingly. But if they do not sit in to ensure that the African demands are adhered to, then decisions will be made, and they will be binding to their countries whether they like it or not,” said Dlamini Emmanuel from Swaziland, and the outgoing chair of the African team.

Climate-smart farming could help reduce 'emissions gap' - experts

By Isaiah Esipisu

WARSAW (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Scientists at the U.N. climate talks in Poland have said that expanding the use of climate-smart farming techniques could help reduce the “emissions gap” – the difference between the amount of greenhouse gases the world can emit by 2020 if it
wants to avoid dangerous climate change and the larger quantity likely to be produced without tougher steps.

Researchers have estimated that global food systems pump between 9.5 and 14.7 billion tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere per year, or between 19 and 29 percent of total emissions.

Kenya's smallholder farmers use grain stores to raise bank loans

By Isaiah Esipisu

A woman prepares grains at her shop in Kenya (REUTERS)

NAKURU, Kenya (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – An innovative Kenyan scheme enables small farmers to store their produce in certified warehouses and use it to obtain credit from banks, avoiding middlemen who paid them rock-bottom prices and enabling them to buy good seeds and fertiliser and raise their yields.

“Brokers have always been a thorn in the flesh of  poor farmers because they take advantage of the harvesting season to purchase farm produce very cheaply, then sell (inputs) to the farmers very expensively when such commodities are scarce in the market,” said Paddy Likhayo, a Kenyan-based grain storage expert.

New wheat varieties resist deadly fungus, boost yields in Kenya

By Isaiah Esipisu

NJORO, Kenya (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - After counting their losses for over a decade, wheat farmers in East Africa are looking forw
ard to a brighter future now that new varieties developed by scientists have proven to be resistant to a devastating wheat disease, and are boosting yields into the bargain.

Known as Ug99, the fungal stem-rust disease thrives in warmer temperatures, and the spores can travel thousands of miles aided by wind, according to Peter Njau, a research scientist at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI).

World's sacred forests may fall prey to developers, scientists warn

Students make a formation of a tree (REUTERS)

By Isaiah Esipisu

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Sacred forests, which have mainly been protected by indigenous communities following traditional beliefs, are among the few remaining forest ecosystems that have been spared by loggers, but they are increasingly under
threat, scientists warn.

“Evidence has shown that many people, including loggers, have for years respected, or have been afraid of going against some religious beliefs - and that has long been a conservation measure for several sacred forests around the world,” said Prasit Wangpakapattanawong, assistant professor at the forest restoration research unit of Thailand’s Chiang Mai University.

Climate-resilient hybrid millet to fight hunger, diabetes

 

Dr Oduor on a demo plot of a hybridised finger millet

 By Isaiah Esipisu

KAKAMEGA, Kenya (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A sought-after and drought-tolerant Kenyan crop, little grown because its yields are so low, has gotten a boost with the release of a new hybrid variety.

Scientists in Kenya say it is the first country in Africa to develop a hybrid seed variety of finger millet, which they hope will supplement the country’s drought-hit main staple – maize – and help fight diabetes as a result of its low sugar content.

Finger millet is one of Kenya’s most important drought-tolerant cereals, but farmers have not expanded production much because the yield is low. Government records put the amount of land planted with finger millet at 65,000 hectares, despite rising demand which has led to the grain commanding premium prices in shops.

Climate-smart Kenyan crop hits a setback - hungry birds

By Isaiah Esipisu

KITUI, Kenya (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Gadam, a fast-maturing, drought-tolerant sorghum variety introduced in Kenya as a solution for farmers trying to adapt to changing climate conditions, turns out to have an unexpected drawback – wild birds are eating it just before it can be harvested.

“Such are stumbling blocks to climate adaptation measures being put in place,” said Evans Kituyi, the senior climate change adaptation programme specialist of the International Development Research Centre. “Some of these challenges are usually not foreseen when developing such projects. But we must learn to solve them as we move forward,” he added.

The sorghum variety, selected and introduced in Kenya by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, appears to be a new favourite of the red-billed quelea bird, a type of weaver that moves in flocks of hundreds of thousands, said David Karanja, a research scientist at KARI and the principal investigator for the Gadam Sorghum Production and Marketing Project.

REDD a ‘False Solution’ for Africa

A tree within Mabira Forest in Uganda

NAIROBI , Jul 14 2013 (IPS) - REDD – reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation – would seem to be a mitigation strategy that perfectly matches Africa’s needs.

Deforestation and agriculture are responsible for a significant part of Africa’s greenhouse gas emissions – though the continent is by no means a leading contributor to global warming. Conserving and even extending Africa’s tree cover – the Congo Basin contains the second-largest rainforest in the world – would both lower emissions and absorb atmospheric carbon.

But the concept has both its critics and defenders.

Scratch-card solar brings clean energy to Kenya's poor

By Isaiah Esipisu

Replacing tin-lamps with Solar Lantens

KITALE, Kenya (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – At Sibanga market, 10 km (6 miles) outside the town of Kitale in western Kenya, Timothy Nyongesa walks into the Mibawa Suppliers shop to collect a gadget that he hopes will brighten his children’s studies and his family’s health.

In exchange for an initial payment of 1,000 Kenyan shillings (about $12), Nyongesa walks out with a kit that will generate solar energy at his home. He jumps on his bicycle and snakes along a footpath to his village of Sinyerere, 6 km farther into the countryside.

Kenya looks to geothermal energy to boost power supply

The Menengai site

By Isaiah Esipisu

NAKURU, Kenya (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – About ten kilometres north of the Kenya’s Rift Valley town of Nakuru lies a massive shield volcano with one of the biggest calderas in the world. Standing at about 7,474 feet above sea level with a sheer cliff, locals describe it as an easy suicide zone. Perhaps, this is how the crater earned its name ‘Menengai’ – Maasai dialect for ‘Corpse’.

Now, with funding from the Climate Investment Funds channeled through the African Development Bank (AfDB), the government of Kenya is taking advantage of this volcanic opening to generate electricity using hot steam from the earth’s crust to run turbines.

Alarm growing as cassava blight spreads to West Africa

By Isaiah Esipisu

Infected Cassava tuber

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The future of cassava, one of the most climate-resilient crops in Africa, may be under threat because rising temperatures have led to a dramatic increase in the number of whiteflies, tiny insects that spread the deadly cassava brown steak virus.

Previously seen as a major problem, but one confined to eastern and central Africa, the virus is spreading, alarming scientists who say new outbreaks suggest the disease is heading west towards the world’s largest cassava producer – Nigeria.

So far, according to James Legg, a plant virologist at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), new countries such as Angola, Gabon and Central African Republic have been hit by the virus. Legg has done extensive research on the disease and its causes in East Africa.

Solar power brings piped water to rural Western Kenya's doorstep

By Isaiah Esipisu

Solar panels at Lukova Primary School

KAKAMEGA, Kenya (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Residents of some rural communities in Western Kenya can now access clean piped water at their doorsteps, thanks to solar-powered engines that pump it from borehole wells.

Pamela Kuyuti reckons it has kept her family together.

“Before this tap with running water was connected to my homestead, I was actually contemplating to quit this marriage,” said Kuyuti, a resident of Mukhalanya village. “I was exhausted walking hours on a daily basis to fetch water for my family and for my mother-in-law.”

Kenyan MPs to champion rural women's influence on climate policy

Denittah Ghati – an MP for Migori County

By Isaiah Esipisu

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Women are due to get a bigger say in Kenya’s climate change policies after female parliamentarians representing its 47 counties joined a group that has been pushing for gender balance from the local up to the national level.

Kenya’s new constitution provides for one seat per county that can only be contested by women. After the March general elections, for the first time, all counties have a female representative in the National Assembly.

Last month these representatives all signed up to work with a non-governmental organisation called Kenya Climate Justice Women Champions (KCJWC), raising hopes that efforts to tackle climate change will become more sensitive to women’s concerns.

Can political changes bring new action on climate risks in Kenya?

 NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Will political reform and a change of government in Kenya bring new political will to tackle climate change and associated disaster risks from changing weather?

Within weeks of Kenya’s new government being sworn in, flooding has claimed dozens of lives and displaced tens of thousands of people, putting climate-related disasters in the political spotlight.

On April 18, Deputy President William Ruto noted that recent floods had caused more than 60 deaths and forced 35,000 from their homes.

Among the most affected areas is the Tana Delta, where some 6,000 families have suffered heavy losses after the Tana River burst its banks and swamped thousands of acres of farmland, destroying crops. Some villagers drowned.

Watch only if you are ready to laugh - just for fun

Note: Not my clip.

IPS – Kenyan NGO Pioneers HIV and Aids Phone Counseling | Inter Press Service

IPS – Kenyan NGO Pioneers HIV and Aids Phone Counseling | Inter Press Service

Water-sparing rice farming proves viable in Kenya

Moses Kareithi Mwangi works on his rice paddy in Mwea, Kenya.
The system of rice intensification discourages flooding the
paddy throughout the season, and encourages wider spacing of
seedlings.

By Isaiah Esipisu

MWEA, Kenya (AlertNet) – Faced with pressure on supplies of irrigation water due to climate shifts and an increasing population, rice farmers in four Kenyan irrigation schemes have adopted a new crop management system that allows them to grow their crops without flooding their paddies throughout the season.

The Kenyan government, through the Mwea Irrigation Agricultural Development Centre (MIAD), has borrowed a technique from India known as the system of rice intensification. It has proved to be an effective way of growing rice with limited water in this east African country.

The system has been widely practised for at least 10 years in Asian countries, where it has been shown to produce greater yields. But the MIAD initiative marks its introduction to Kenya.

Kenya tackles climate threats to wildlife, tourism

By Isaiah Esipisu

NAIROBI, Kenya (AlertNet) – Climate shifts are forcing Kenyan experts to take drastic action to preserve the stunning scenery and wildlife that have drawn millions of tourists to the east African country, bringing vital revenue and providing thousands of jobs.

Flamingos fly over Lake Nakuru in Kenya's Rift Valley on September 18, 2010.
 REUTERS/Noor Khamis

From collecting rainwater in national parks to providing animals with hay in hard times and preventing alien species of vegetation from taking over grassland, Kenyans have joined regional and global projects to grapple with the changes, which are having deep and rapid effects on the country’s natural resources.

One of the sites most severely affected by recent changes is Lake Nakuru, in the Rift Valley about 140 km (80 miles) northwest of Nairobi. The soda lake is home to millions of flamingos who make a dazzling display as they wheel and swoop in huge flocks before settling on the water to browse on the dense algae.

The flamingos and other water birds make the lake one of the country’s most magnificent spectacles, watched by thousands of tourists from the 14 hotels overlooking the lake and giving jobs to thousands of Kenyans, as well as bringing in more than 3 billion Kenyan shillings ($36 million) a year in revenue.

Cutting food waste crucial to ensuring food security, experts say

By Isaiah Esipisu

NAIROBI, Kenya (AlertNet) – Sticking to what’s written on your shopping list, checking food expiry dates, cooking just enough but no more and a few other simple practices can help curb global food waste, which amounts to 1.3 billion tonnes of food every year, experts say.

Pigs, marabou storks and human scavengers
compete for food waste at Dandora dump on the outskirts of Nairobi.

This is vital at a time when climate change and population growth are reducing the availability of food for millions of vulnerable people around the world, they add.

“With the World Bank warning of the possibility of a four-degrees-centigrade temperature rise by the end of the decade and an expected world population of nine billion by 2050, global food production and supply is going to be highly affected,” Dennis Garrity, United Nations drylands ambassador and senior fellow at the World Agroforestry Centre told AlertNet in Nairobi. “The time to act is now.” 

There are 870 million hungry people in the world today, experts estimate, but droughts, floods, storms and climate-related plant diseases, among many other factors, continually reduce access to food.

Voters gave both genders equal chances, so why are more women not vying for office?

Yvonne  Chaka Chaka, an example
of women who have stood tall in their own areas

NAIROBI Kenya (Daily Nation) As the world celebrated the International Women’s Day in March, the main message that went out indicated that African women were still sidelined and denied full support in political engagements.

However, this may no longer be true in the Kenya’s situation. An analysis of numbers from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) reveals that voters who participated in the March 4 polls gave women candidates equal opportunities as their men counterparts and the trend was evenly distributed all over the country.

The main reason why men dominated, perhaps, is that more men presented themselves to vie for all the competitive elective positions than women.

For example, there were only 129 women vying for a National Assembly seat, where 16 of them made it to Parliament. This figure compares very poorly to 1,968 men who vied for the same position but only 274 made it to the House.

However, comparing the total percentage of women who made it to the National Assembly to that of men, one easily notices that the difference is nearly negligible.