ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AND HEALTH PLUS

KNOWLEDGE FOR FOOD SECURITY INITIATIVE

The ECAHP in her project initiatives through Knowledge for Food Security Initiatives (K-FSI) generally aims at improving the living conditions of the people of Nyatike Sub-County by providing good health, technical and financial empowerment in various perspectives. The CBO also o pursue agricultural researches to capacitate the target group to undertake production of healthy crops and farm produce value enrichments. The intention is to ensure adequate production of quality crops for food security and surplus for income generations to benefits of the project main recipients so as to be relevant in the contest against food insecurity and poverty as this will improve the health conditions of the population of Nyatike and its environment in the world as recommended by (Kinyua, 2004, Rep 2011).

The environmental change and health plus (ECAHP) is a development Organization  that provides a short and long term technical and finance empowerment and social services  to over 8,000 people in Nyatike served by 14 staff actively engaged in agricultural researches and crops production by taking upper initiatives on agriculture for the last seven (2) years. The organization has therefore been engaged in community works in attempts to eliminating poverty and its causes. These have been achieved with the generosity of development partners and the project main beneficiaries.

The organization is therefore committed to sustainable agriculture and poverty alleviation by working with youthful people of all culture, faith and gender to achieve transformation attained through development policies advocacy and collaborative technical enhancements meant to alleviate poverty with emphasis on environmental and land use justice for household food security and socio-economic development with returns from agricultural investments.

Specifically ECAHP in her research endeavors through K-FSI project shall:-

• Undertake to explore soil morphology in Nyatike.
• Facilitate farmers technically and materially to adopt best sustainable productions systems up on investigation on sustainable and reliable cropping systems that involve diversification or intensification of the appropriate models after systematic analysis and re-discoveries of sustainable approaches to derive general principles about the function, properties and performance of best agricultural crops production systems.
• Technically empower the target group (75% women) in agro-enterprise development initiatives which shall involve agro-products values additions and packages of value added farm produce for marketing for higher income by the stakeholders.

    In this contexts, the selected farmers shall be set  to determine soil pH levels,  soil POM, infiltration and texture to understand how maize or sorghum as the stable food crops of the people interact in different soil conditions so as to improve production of healthy cereal and other crops. The agricultural researches shall enable farmers to understand to a wide context the symbiotic relationship between plants and animals and how each influences the healthy state of the other for vibrant performances of each other as animals depends of natural vegetation as a home and key sources of food. The level of soil utility  on the other hands depends on the amount of  decompose materials both plants and animals residues as key sources of crops and other plants nutrients for uptake and utilization efficiency as well as microbial activities that enhances soil aerations for healthy plants growth (Ibid, 1993).

In the aforementioned initiatives, technical empowerment shall remain key in the K-FSI project as the farmers own findings in their field schools learning grounds shall be very vital in which:-

• The plants which for this case shall be maize or any other cereal crop shall be key object of the study
• The soil and its nutrients as the production medias determine the healthy state of the crops as the specimen of studies when subjected to different variables which in this case will be varieties of legumes crops for nitrogen and other plants nutrients formation while carbon fixing element will be biochar as compost materials shall equally be tested for other micro and macronutrients necessary for healthy plants growth as shall be determined by observations in the experiments in the farmers field schools hosted in the ward based PMCs.

The farmers undertaking the study shall be allowed to encourage own initiatives in production management components such as intercropping and or mono-cropping practices and compare the outcome of the practices given same treatments and conditions. The soil and its levels of fertility shall be the growing media to understand the crops responses during the crops growth and the final outcome at the harvest stage shall be compared both in quality and quantity. In this case, the innovative production systems shall be meant to acquire knowledge on the viable and reliable components to optimize the production outcome with full respect to environmental ethics.

The entire PMC and the field school will further remain venues to impact technical know-how on plant products value enhancements through value addition involving post-harvest processing value change by researching on the alternative use of the crops products upon value change to improve the quality to meet the market demand at a higher price.

ECAHP and partners therefore proposes to launch a three unit programme which will complement each other in service delivery to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in service discharge. The units shall be:-

• Technical Know-how search and adoption unit.
• Conscious involvement in sustainable land use for long term crops production.
• Technical empowerment of the target group (75% women) in agro-enterprises development and marketing initiatives.

ECAHP is set to use democratically elected community members and representative from all the spectrum of stakeholders to ensure acquisition of knowledge through researches and adoption of the acquire knowledge for agricultural production and agro-enterprise development as recommended by Rep. (2011), UN (2015) and Nyamohanga et al, (2016) in separate studies in which knowledge is a key pre-requisites for agricultural development. As a youth initiated organization in Nyatike Sub-County in the County Government of Migori in Kenya with intention of extending her services to other regional sub-counties, ECAHP activities are geared towards achieving millennium development goals comes 2030. K-FSI is hence meant to improve the social-economic prowess and security welfare of the people who directly depends on agricultural production for their livelihoods.

ECAHP is hence lobbing for the very basic production knowledge; farm implements and financial empowerment to sanction the target group to produce adequate food reserve and surplus for income generations. ECAHP in close collaboration with other stakeholders is thus positioned to enhance farmers own agricultural knowledge search to boost crops production to overcome food insecurity and increase income generations by ensuring sustainable production practices to restore and or protect soil fertility.

Nyatike is target region being a unique sub-county that hosts the major potential agricultural land currently under threats of underutilization, thus needs effective sustainable production knowledge, involvement in production initiatives and monitoring mechanisms to avert future possible causes of soil infertility creating grounds for looming food crisis.

There is ample land resources not on production though the people are challenged by lack of technical skills, appropriate production gears and financial power to under their mission; however land and unskilled labour is abundant (Rep. 2011). Various food and cash crops do well in Nyatike if given adequate inputs which is currently lacking. Unemployed youth crowd urban centers searching for employment as they do not have adequate facilities to undertake farming as equal source of employment.

The Nyatike shorelines though subjected to short lived floods have rich alluvial lands suitable for all kinds of arable activities in as much as offshore land neglected by the energetic population despite the facts that target area is essentially most potential arable land in the county that has never been subjected to inorganic production practices. However, the stakeholders are concerned about marginal reduction in production owing to inadequacy of technical human resources and agricultural production equipment worsened by changes in weather patterns in the region (Nyamohanga et al, 2016). The people literally fears the possible consequence of introducing inorganic farming practices in a land that had never witnessed the use of inorganic fertilizers that has proved detrimental in the neighbouring Sub-Counties where long term use of inorganic fertilizer has resulted to mash drop in agricultural output and stakeholders as consequently seeking alternative sustainable modes as was initially noted by Ariga et al report of 2009. Consequently, ECAHP is engaging farmers in sustainable agricultural knowledge search as they engage the target group through the ward based PMCs in crops production for food security and income generations purposes.

ECAHP is therefore set to pursue well-guarded agricultural researches strategies through farmers’ field school approaches in each PMC to equip the producers with adequate technical skills to undertake sustainable productions in close collaboration with other agencies and concerned Governmental Ministries to embark on good farming practices. The intention is to enhance ability of small holder farmers in sustainable crops production missions.

K-FSI as a ECAHP project is a premeditated undertaking based on basic hypothesis that inadequate production skills is the key cause of poor farming methods and general low production returns from the agricultural endeavors resulting to food insecurity in the target region (Kumba et al, 2015) noted. It is also assumed that massive attrition from agricultural to mining and or fishing are triggered by low returns blamed on inadequate skills and production equipment making the sub-county to be considered as a famine prone sub-county in Migori County where food deficiency factors is overcome through the relief mechanisms despite the sub-county’s arable potentialities as (Ibid, 2015) further affirms; hence the need to step up aggressive agricultural researches and food production campaigns to over turns technical poverty to improve food situation in the area.

The project is further proposed on account of glaring irresponsible attempts by few individuals without environmental morals as they geared towards the usage of inorganic agricultural production already proved to be ineffective with severe long terms negative impacts on lands’ utility leading to loss of soil fertility as (Ariga, 2009) equally reports at a time when people are unable to marshal adequate financial power through local saving to provide for vital production inputs. The provision of technical know-how and financial power will empower the youth in sustainable food production practices and therefore shall make life easy and conducive in the affected and infected areas. The project will therefore enhance speedy mainstreaming of smallholders farmers in respectful use of land through sustainable production modules to foster food security and surplus production for income generation to answers to other social needs.

It is equally highlighted with concern that food deficiency has made life expensive in Nyatike where people are prone to under-nutrition and water borne diseases hence spend much on their merger resources on medication. This has led to operational self-insufficiency and underdevelopment of the sub-county. Lack of adequate appropriate farm implements are responsible for the failures of farming activities as the people keep on interfering with working capital to answer to medical and other social needs as eluded in a separate report (UN, 2015).

The goal is therefore to technically empower the target group socio-economically on sustainable agricultural production by provision of technical and financial assistance as shall be appropriate by deliberately targeting 75% women and taking aggressive steps in enhancing sustainable land use for long term agricultural productions. Specifically, ECAHP seeks to:-

• Undertakes agricultural researches so as to foster healthy crops’ production in the target area.
• Involve youthful men and women in sustainable crops production practices initiatives.
• Technically and financially empower the target group (75% women) in agro-enterprise development initiatives which shall involve agro-products values enhancements and packages of value added farm produce for marketing for higher income.

In sustainable food security production, ECAHP aims at improving household food security and increasing sources of income for the resource poor but productive small scale farmers by using producers and marketing structures to upscale crops production. From within PMCs, 20 farmers shall be selected from among the farmers in PMCs and be formed into farmers’ field school to pursue knowledge search on behalf of other farmers within the same committees.       The adopted strategy incorporates value addition through commodities value chain as an effort by the organization to address three food security variables of availability, access and utilization of quality food based on demand.

To achieve sustainable food security and livelihoods, key activities are:-

• Pursuing rapid multiplication and production of stable root tubers food security crops such as orange/yellow/white fleshed sweet potatoes, Michera & SSSF cassavas and other legume crops like Soy beans, groundnuts, beans and as well as common cereal crops that includes finger millets, maize, sorghums and horticultural crops.
• Organic farming practices involving use of composting, biochar and promotion of legumes crops production for rapid micro/macro nutrients and valuable gases fixings.
• Collective marketing through farmers’ producers and marketing committees (PMCs) that shall act as produce collection and enrichment centers and shall equally form own farmers field schools as well as farmers technical venues.
• Post-harvest handling, processing and value embellishments.
• Post value additions corporate market linkages.