Published 7/22/2024
Improving smallholder farmers’ plant health and performance through the introduction of biocontrol methods is at the heart of Koppert foundation’s mission. Since its establishment in 2017, the foundation has been involved in 25 sustainable agricultural projects in 15 countries, and has improved the livelihoods of thousands of smallholder farmers and their families.
One such project is ‘Feedback to the Future’ that uses a ‘living lab approach’ – a demonstration farm and training centre that offers fertile feedback to local communities and ecosystems by connecting local knowledge and networks to state-of-the-art sustainable technologies and innovations. The project started in 2020 in Makueni County with training women’s groups in the techniques of syntropic food forestry, in cooperation with Skill-Ed, a Dutch organization specialized in blended learning.
‘Feedback to the Future is the continuation of the Ghetto Smart Makueni Food Forestry project which was sponsored by Koppert Foundation in 2020,’ the Manager of the foundation, Johannette Klapwijk tells us. Currently 200 farmers are implementing syntropic food forests on their land and since this is a gradual process, every farmer starts with a plot of about 1000m² and continues adding similar plots over time. ‘As more farmers gain access to water and the rains improve, we see an increase in the number of plots,’ Johannette explains. Land was prepared for optimal use of water resources and three nurseries were started. ‘Additionally, twelve lead farmers received advanced training and are now able to provide adequate practical assistance to their peers on the development and maintenance of their food forests and tree nurseries,’ Johannette continues.
From maize and beans to food forests
For many years, smallholder farmers had been unable to resist the temptations the agro-industry offered them; monocultures of maize and beans which slowly replaced the traditional range of crops that included vegetables, many fruit trees such as mango, banana, pomegranate, papaya and passion fruit, as well as nuts and coffee. The soil was soon depleted, bare and dry. Bena Kyengo is the founder of ‘Feedback to the Future’ in Makueni County in Kenya, where she set up a demonstration farm and training centre. ‘We are on a mission to regenerate the local food system in Kenya through training and supporting farmers to practice what they have learned. With our syntropic agroforestry approach we are also rehabilitating degraded landscapes in semi-arid areas to turn them into a productive food paradise,’ Bena explains.
‘The first year was disastrous,’ she recalls. ‘The land produced hardly anything at all, but we were able to build up biomass to regenerate the soil.’ In the meantime, trainings have increased from two a year in 2020, to one training every month since 2023. Last year a total of 400 additional farmers were trained and a total of 17 groups of 30 smallholder farmers were formed. So far we have trained a total of 700 farmers in 19 villages. Over 200 farmers are in the process of transitioning their land to syntropic agroforestry. Each farmer owns 1,2 hectares on average. ‘It’s realistic to expect that all these small farmers between them are transforming almost 242 hectares of land,’ Bena points out.
Water the biggest problem
Feedback to the Future is committed to reversing the decline in rainfall caused by land degradation in Kenya and works closely with local communities to implement landscape water management strategies and promote regenerative agriculture. ‘The planting of trees is all important,’ says Bena. ‘Trees produce fruit and hold on to water. We have also established a community level water management system with 13 water pans dug around the villages. Water is the biggest problem.’
‘Working together with ‘Feedback to the Future, has been a real pleasure. Bena’s spirit inspires us and we are proud to see what they are achieving,’ Johannette concludes.
The Koppert Foundation contributes to sustainable solutions for horticulture and agriculture and improves the health and availability of food and nutrition for those who need it most.