Laikipia, Kenya

This project will tackle the massive challenges encountered by Kenyan farmers and society. Vegetation, soil, and people currently suffer from the detrimental impacts of overgrazing, deforestation and climate change in almost all counties of the country. To counteract these liabilities, the Laikipia Permaculture Trust and reNature are going to present an effective solution: Regenerative Agroforestry. With our Model Farm and Model School, we will promote sustainable, climate-resilient production systems that regenerate land with the help of trees and climate-smart agriculture.

Number of direct beneficiaries

2,000 farmers, families and community members

Development Challenge

More than 70% of Kenya’s rural population work in agriculture. However, due to deforestation, mismanagement of livestock as well as climate change, soils are degrading and erosion is increasing. This affects the productivity of farms, the natural environment as well as the livelihoods of farmers who depend on their agricultural outputs.

Intervention

We will design and implement a Model Farm utilizing Regenerative Agroforestry to pilot, refine, and showcase different systems suitable for the local context. The focus lies on exemplifying the practice’s benefits to farmers. Within the already existing Permaculture Centre, an educational program (Model School) will be put in place to facilitate capacity-building and knowledge creation.

Objective

The goal is to inspire and facilitate farmers in adapting agroforestry to increase their farm’s climate resilience, productivity, and fertility while regenerating degraded land.

Inspirational Impact

The Laikipia Permaculture Trust is comprised of five local women organizations consisting of more than 310 members. Through their wide network, they will reach a large number of farmers using the Model Farm to visualize the systems and the Model School as an educational center. The existing educational center is already locally known and connected to more than 700 farmers.

Environmental Impact

The project will bring back indigenous tree species, increase local biodiversity and support plant and animal life. Trees will produce shade, whilst regulating the local micro-climate. Further, agroforestry systems will increase carbon sequestration levels, revive soil, and restore water cycles which have been increasingly drying out.

Economic Impact

Agroforestry will help farmers to secure precious yields. It will also increase their economic resilience by generating various income streams from different commodities cultivated on the same piece of land. Especially timber will face considerable demand on local markets. Furthermore, the costs for agrochemicals will be lower while the farm’s productivity will increase.

Social Impact

Through increasing the farm’s resilience, agroforestry will help farmers to secure their yields against climate change and degradation. It will, therefore, enhance food security. Further, farmers will be able to source biomass from their own farms reducing the time needed to fetch firewood which specifically benefits women.

Other social benefits include increased availability of drinking water and more diverse diets. The project will focus on species such as moringa which also bring additional health benefits when consumed.

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