Members of a community-based organisation. [Photo/actionaid.org]Communities in rural villages in the Rift Valley are implementing agroforestry to respond to new challenges brought about by climate change. Through the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) programme, the farmers are trained in agroforestry techniques that increase their resilience and food security in the face of hotter, drier growing conditions.
The programme is pioneered by the World Agroforestry Centre (Icraf). Over a decade ago, the hill of Tuiyobei village in Uasin Gishu county was nearly bare, with few shrubs or trees beyond the coffee plantations.
The rain was sporadic, temperatures were rising and crop yields and livelihoods were deteriorating. High deforestation triggered by increasing demand for firewood, lumber, and charcoal had degraded the ecosystem.
These factors, plus high erosion rates after rains and chaotic winds, prompted Maureen Selem and five others to form the Toben Gaa Self-Help Group to improve their standard of living through environmental conservation.
The group has now grown to 46 members. ABCD aims to empower communities to develop assets they already have access to, given minimal support such as the sharing of skills and knowledge.
Today, trees species such as acacias, Casuarina, silky oak (Grevillea robusta), Nile tulip (Markhamia lutea), moringa (Moringa oleifera), agati (Sesbania grandiflora), neem (Azadirachta Indica), Tasmanian blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) and mwalambe (Terminalia brownii) are intercropped with coffee, fruit trees such as guavas and tree tomatoes, and crops such as maize, beans, watermelons, papayas and pumpkins.
Depending on an individual farmer’s interests, animal fodder such as nappier grass, Calliandra, and Boma Rhodes grasses are also intercropped.
Some members invest in woodlots for timber and charcoal production. Silky oak is widely planted along farm boundaries and mwalambe in higher areas.