Intergrated Dryland Farming Project Final

INTEGRATED DRY-LAND FARMING PROJECT
A FUNDING PROPOSAL
IDFP
INTEGRATED DRY-LAND FARMING
PROJECT YEAR 2017
PREPARED BY:
AGRIBUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL FOCUS FOR AFRICA
Presented to:
HIVOS
Contact Person
Stephen Muendo
Cell: +254 722 979 241
Email:
Web:
P.O. Box 818 - 90100 Machakos -
Kangundo Road Machakos Town
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
AEFA recognizes the important contribution that youth and women can make in their efforts to
overcome hunger and poverty. They are one of the main social contexts in which knowledge,
values and life skills (e.g. personal responsibility, self-esteem, teamwork, decision-making and
planning) are developed. They offer an effective vehicle through which livelihoods can be
transformed for the better.
This funding proposal aims at revamping our agricultural projects and highlights AEFA’s
approach to sustainable agriculture by giving an overview of the ongoing projects, their
successes, challenges, situational analysis, our approach to climate change and productive
landscapes, methodologies as well as the monitoring and evaluation mechanisms that we intent
to use.
Agribusiness and Environmental Focus : IDFP 2 | P a g e

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY........................................................................................................................................ 2
AGRIBUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL FOCUS..................................................................................................... 5
INTRODUCTION - WHO WE ARE............................................................................................................................................................................5

MISSION AND VISION..............................................................................................................................................................................................5
OUR OBJECTIVES....................................................................................................................................................................................................5
OBJECTIVES OF AGRIBUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL FOCUS...........................................................................................................................6
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE PRACTICES.................................................................................................................................................................7
OUR PARTNERS, TECHNICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE CAPABILITIES.....................................................................................................................8
IDFP, CLIMATE CHANGE & PRODUCTIVE LANDSCAPES......................................................................................... 9

THE CHALLENGE FOR SMALLHOLDERS..................................................................................................................................................................9
HOW THE IDFP WILL ADDRESS THE CHALLENGES............................................................................................................................................10
OVERVIEW OF GREEN GROWTH.........................................................................................................................................................................10
CHANGE ADAPTATION STRATEGIES....................................................................................................................................................................11
STEPS TOWARDS PRODUCTIVE LANDSCAPES......................................................................................................................................................13
INNOVATIVE AGRICULTURAL APPROACHES IN OUR NEW STRATEGY...............................................................................................................18
PROBLEM TO BE ADDRESSED............................................................................................................................. 21
TARGET GROUP AND AREA................................................................................................................................ 23

PROJECT GOALS & OBJECTIVES.......................................................................................................................... 24
DEVELOPMENT GOAL..........................................................................................................................................................................................24
PROJECT OBJECTIVES...........................................................................................................................................................................................25
PROJECT DESCRIPTION...................................................................................................................................... 27
PROJECT JUSTIFICATION.................................................................................................................................... 31
ACTIVITIES & DEVELOPMENT PLAN................................................................................................................... 33
RESEARCH.............................................................................................................................................................................................................33
CASSAVA FARMING SYSTEM.................................................................................................................................................................................34
GREEN GRAM FARMING SYSTEM.........................................................................................................................................................................41
SORGHUM FARMING SYSTEM.............................................................................................................................................................................43
CAPACITY BUILDING.............................................................................................................................................................................................46
ESTABLISHMENT OF DEMONSTRATION PLOTS....................................................................................................................................................47
COMMERCIAL VILLAGES.......................................................................................................................................................................................48
MARKETING OF PRODUCE....................................................................................................................................................................................48
Marketing Activities Involved...............................................................................................................................49
ADVOCACY............................................................................................................................................................................................................50
GENDER MAINSTREAMING..................................................................................................................................................................................50
Year 1 Detailed Implementation Schedule...........................................................................................................52
2 Year Detailed Activity Plan................................................................................................................................54
ACHIEVEMENTS OF AGRIBUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL FOCUS FOR AFRICATO DATE...............................................................................56

CHALLENGES FACED AND LESSONS LEARNT........................................................................................................................................................57
HUMAN RESOURCE INPUTS.................................................................................................................................................................................60
METHODOLOGY................................................................................................................................................ 61
PROJECT PARTNERS IN THE IDFP......................................................................................................................................64
TARGET FARMING SYSTEMS................................................................................................................................................................................68
MONITORING AND EVALUATION....................................................................................................................... 69
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF THE PROJECT......................................................................................................................................................70
SUSTAINABILITY................................................................................................................................................ 71
ACROSS THE BOARD INTERVENTIONS................................................................................................................ 75

1. TRAININGS........................................................................................................................................................................................................75
2. MARKET ANALYSIS..........................................................................................................................................................................................76
EXPECTED OUTCOME & IMPACT........................................................................................................................ 77
OUTCOME.................................................................................................................................................................77
IMPACT..................................................................................................................................................................................................................79
LOGIC FRAME........................................................................................................................................................................................................80
COST AND FINANCING.....................................................................................ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.
PROPOSED ESTIMATED COST FOR TWO YEARS...........................................................................................ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

AGRIBUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL FOCUS
Introduction - Who we are
Agribusiness and Environmental Focus for Africa (AEFA) exists to facilitate the creation of an
environment that is conducive for human development. We are a people-centered and people-
driven organization offering an all-inclusive package with the aim of alleviating poverty and
improving the lives of different communities. AEFA’s target population comprises of all the
members of the society within which we operate. We work with communities and in partnership
with other organizations in improving the livelihoods of Kenyans through Community
Empowerment.
We are currently running community projects in across several counties in Kenya with more
concentration on the Lower eastern counties of r5t Makueni, Kitui and Machakos.
Mission and vision
Our mission is “to empower vulnerable groups with an aim of achieving livelihood related
MDGs at the community level”.
Our vision is “to see a self sustaining society”.
Our Objectives
Develop community working groups as a tool for community mobilization, sensitization and
awareness creation.
Empower the communities towards attaining self sustenance.
Network with other actors in the facilitation and implementation of community development
projects

Objectives of Agribusiness and Environmental Focus
Agribusiness and Environmental Focus for Africa has a set of broad objectives that we have been
pursuing since our inception. These are:
 To work towards empowering women, youth on their rights and enhancing self
sustenance.
 To promote the welfare of youth and women by working towards empowering them to
overcome poverty, achieve their potential and/ or lead a dignified life as humanity allows.
 To initiate, promote, support or approve legislative policy and other measures that are
designed to promote the welfare and interests of marginalized and vulnerable groups and
individuals especially those arising from poverty and to support action aimed at
preventing and minimizing causes of poverty.
 To take major steps in establishing an independent centre for promoting and facilitating
the achievement of the aims and objectives of the organization, and to cooperate with
other centers, organizations and partners with similar aims and objectives.
 To obtain resources by way of contributions, donations, legacies and grants for the sole
intention of furthering the objectives of the organization.

Corporate Governance Practices
Agribusiness and Environmental Focus has continuously pursued sound corporate governance
principles and ideals that have ensured that the organization has delivered its mandate without
issues such as misappropriation of funds, taking advantage of vulnerable groups among other
issues. Our founders have genuine interests in the objectives of the organization. They are all
passionate, competent and dedicated to the overall organization’s cause.
As an organization, we have strong ties and good working relationships with the local
community and this ensures that any arising incidences relating to our staff and volunteers on the
ground are brought to our attention. The strong ties enable us to easily collect information on the
ground in regard to the impact of our projects. We also liaise with the government in our
activities and projects to ensure that they are within the confines of the laws of the Republic of
Kenya.
Agribusiness and Environmental Focus has put into place proper documentation and reporting
mechanisms where reports are prepared depending on the specifics of the project. We also
prepare quarterly and semi-annual reports that detail activities undertaken by the organization.
Further, we prepare annual and final project reports on the completion of the projects. We also
document all financial transactions through receipts, vouchers, bank statements and other forms
of documentation.
We also have internal audit structures through which we countercheck all our transactions. We
procure the services of external auditors each year and at the termination of projects. Further, we
are open to scrutiny by donors and external evaluators.
We have a board whose members are persons of high integrity and have a wide range of skills
which come in handy in our pursuance to the goals and objectives of the organization

Our Partners, Technical and Administrative Capabilities
Agribusiness and Environmental Focus has over the years worked in partnership with other
organizations in different capacities and roles. In the last four years, we have been involved in
sustainable livelihoods projects in different regions in the country and this has equipped us with
management capabilities. We have implemented projects in tomato farming, beekeeping,
traditional cereals, poultry as well as watermelon farming.
PARTNER POSITION NATURE OF COLLABORATION
Mumbuni, Katoloni CBOs Associate Project Partnering & Implementation
Humanitarian International Services Group Donor Funds
HIVOs Donor Funds and Technical Assistance
Smart Logistics Limited Associate Market linkage (cereals & grains)
Kenya Agricultural Research Institute Associate Knowledge and ASAL Research
USAID Donor Funds and Technical Assistance
JKUAT/SEKU Associate Knowledge and Research
McGill University Associate Knowledge and Research
Machakos, Makueni & Kitui County Associate Policy Development, Technical Assistance,
Governments Finance and Implementation
Natural Capital Services Associate Climate Change Mitigation
Infonet Bio-vision Associate Plant health research
Ministries of Agriculture, water and Associate Network and Technical Assistance

Natural Resources

IDFP, CLIMATE CHANGE & PRODUCTIVE LANDSCAPES
The Challenge for Smallholders
Arid and semi arid regions agriculture is hard hit by the negative impacts of climate change.
Smallholder families and their communities are especially vulnerable, because they have limited
resources with which to adapt. For that reason, our project gives high priority to generating more
precise knowledge about climate change impacts, while identifying adaptation options that can
be brought within reach of the rural poor. They urgently need solutions that make it possible to
intensify agricultural production sustainably in the face of climate change impacts, thus
strengthening food security and reducing rural poverty.
Some of the challenges and consequences of climate change include:

 Diminished food production, soil infertility and a decrease in the land’s natural resilience;
 Increased downstream flooding, reduced water quality, sedimentation in rivers and lakes,
and silting of reservoirs and navigation channels;
 Shrinking of natural resources
 Loss of livelihoods forcing affected people to migrate.
 Clearances of the little forest cover remaining to pave way for farmland and also to
obtain wood for fuel. These has resulted to desertification of the project region and has in
a way contributed to climate change as well as destruction of ecosystems thus turning the
landscapes unproductive
 Increase in soil erosion due to deforestation and lack of vegetation cover
 Increase in input costs of production factors especially fertilizers. This problem has been
escalated by the fact that continuous usage of fertilizers renders the land unproductive
 Constraints of production in rainfed areas.
In the implementation process of our project we had to factor in the above challenges and come
up with effective innovative ways to address them.

How the IDFP will Address the Challenges
In order to achieve our intended targets in this new phase of the IDFP, our approach towards
green growth and productive landscapes will be embedded in the partnerships we develop with
our farmers and strategies that will be integrative and geared towards effective natural resources
utilization, reduced farm production costs, environmental conservation, sensitivity in farming
and climate change adaptation. Below are our strategies towards both climate change adaptation
and productive landscapes.
Overview of Green Growth
In the course of the implementation of IDFP in the past one year, it has come out more clearly
that economic and social sustainability, on one hand, and social and environmental sustainability
are not only compatible, but also largely complementary. This is not so with economic and
environmental sustainability, as growth, especially in agribusiness has come largely at the
expense of the environment and therefore we have made a stride in introducing the concepts and
practices of renewable energy, green food and productive landscapes in all our projects. Through
green growth, we aim to ensure that agriculture and environmental sustainability are compatible
and that the local community can “meet their present needs without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs”.
Agribusiness and Environmental Focus : IDFP 10 | P a g

Change Adaptation Strategies
Re-greening the land
AEFA will employ a specialized geo-engineering technique to stop and reverse the process of
desertification through the rehabilitation of local ecosystems using “simple” hydrologic
principles at strategic locations.
Water-harvesting techniques will be used to ensure that all rain is collected and brought
subsurface. As a result aquifers will be replenished and vegetation will re-appear. By doing this
within a hydrologic network of strategic re-greened locations the initiated evapotranspiration and
atmospheric cooling will ensure regular, more balanced precipitation in the entire targeted
region. Within a few years, this method of climate engineering will restore the ability of an
extended stretch of land to provide local and regional ecosystem services.
Revitalizing local economies
By working with the local community to develop simple and diverse business models through
formation of commercial villages that capitalize on the value of the re-greened land, multiple
goals will be achieved. First of all, the cost of re-greening the land will be recuperated and used
to re-green other areas. In that way, the initiative becomes a revolving fund instead of a “one-off-
subsidy”. Furthermore, the businesses can restart local economies, raise the social and economic
standard of living, and develop a situation in which good and sustainable stewardship of the local
ecosystem is encouraged, by restoring a culture of prevention.

Raising public awareness
Raising global public awareness in- and outside the affected areas will help develop an additional
source of funding to accelerate and expand to other affected areas, foster grassroots participation
to effect behavioral, institutional and cultural change necessary to ensure a sustainable future,
and heightens the pressure on governments and organizations to take action.
In addition to the above innovative environment conserving measures, we intend to work closely
with national environmental management authority through the following steps with respect to
the conservation of biological diversity in our project implementation area
 Identify potential threats to biological diversity and devise measures to remove or arrest
their effects. Such measures include projects like the Protective Forest Stands
 Undertake measures to integrate the conservation and sustainable utilization in relation to
biological diversity in existing activities and measures by the government and the private
sectors
 Measure the value of unexploited natural resources in terms of water shade protection,
influence on climate, cultural and aesthetic value as well as actual and potential genetic
value
In consultation with the relevant lead agencies we shall promote
 Land use methods that are compatible with conservation of biological diversity
 Integration of traditional knowledge for the conservation of biological diversity with
mainstream scientific knowledge.
 Sustainability (introduce energy saving jikos so that the trees won’t be harvested for fuel)
Other climate change adaptation strategies include; energy saving stoves & fireless cookers,
improved crop varieties and weather information dissemination.

Steps towards Productive Landscapes
Furrow dyking/modern contour furrows
Rainfall in the arid or semi-arid zones of lower eastern area is often poorly distributed, with
much of the year’s total arriving all at once in intense, heavy storms. As a result, these regions
are vulnerable to drought, soil degradation and soil erosion caused by the run-off from heavy
rain. In some areas, excess water during years of unusually high rainfall also conspires to reduce
crop yields. The low value of the crops that can be grown in these zones exacerbates this
problem because farmers cannot afford to introduce expensive soil degradation, lost crop
productivity and less profitable agriculture, which, in turn, is likely to result in farmers
abandoning the land to find alternative work in the cities, where they often end up among the
growing populations of the slum areas.
In response to these challenges, a technique known as furrow dyking has been developed.
Furrow dyking involves forming moulds of soil, or dams, along furrows, creating a multitude of
long, narrow basins, or micro- catchment areas, between furrows. Rainfall is trapped in these
basins and gradually soaks into the soil where it becomes available to the crop throughout the
growing season. One of the advantages of this technique is that there is no run-off, thus
preventing soil erosion.
The simplest way of creating the basins for furrow dyking is to build small earth dams at regular
intervals between the furrows. Dyking can be done manually with hand hoes or shovels. Small-
scale farmers are now using furrow dyking to maintain or increase their crop yields in both
irrigated and rain-fed areas. However, furrow dyking requires substantial inputs of labor. In
furrow dyking, the volume of water retained in each basin depends on the soil type and
conditions, the spacing between the crop rows. Perhaps even more significant is the economic
and social impact that the project is likely to have. Furrow dyking can transform bare and
degraded land into productive landscapes. Less degraded and more productive land will lead to
more profitable farming enterprises that will, it is hoped, reduce the exodus of farm workers to
the cities. The income of rural families will increase and they will have a more reliable supply of

good quality food. There will also be increased crop residues and forage for feeding livestock,
which will have the additional effect of reducing the need to plant forage crops on areas that are
sensitive to desertification and soil degradation. Apart from turning land into productive
landscapes, furrow dyking will also address climate change by reducing the need to plant forage
crops on areas that are sensitive to desertification and soil degradation.
Soil and rain water conservation techniques
Efficient conservation of rainwater is the central issue in successful dry land farming. Extensive
trials conducted by the soil conservation and dry land research centres have led to the
identification of a number of inter-terrace land treatments besides contour and graded. These
techniques are location specific and the benefits from adoption are highly variable depending on
the rainfall intensity, slope and texture of the soil besides the prevailing crop/cropping system.
Farmers have not widely adopted mechanical measures like contour bunds, graded bunds,
grassing of waterways and construction of farm ponds without the government support due to
financial constraints. However, studies have revealed that more than 80 percent farmers follow
simple conservation measure like sowing across the slope, opening of dead furrows and key line
cultivation. The yield improvement by adoption of soil and water conservation measures vary
between 12 and 20 percent which are at times not convincing enough to farmers. However,
cumulative effects are significantly visible at some locations since such measures help in long-
term conservation of resources.
Timely planting of crops
Timely sowing and precision are essential for getting good plant stand, higher yield and optimum
utilization of rainfall and reduction in the incidence of pests and diseases. A number of
demonstrations have been taken up in farmers’ fields in different rain fed regions of the three
counties. However, seeding and inter culture experiments developed by KARI have helped in
overcoming the constraints to some extent.

Adoption of improved crop varieties
A number of improved varieties and hybrids by KARI have been evaluated in the farmers fields
to identify suitable ones for matching growing periods for inter and sequence rainfed cropping
systems. For example, farmers will gain additional benefit by adopting improved varieties of
sorghum (gaddam), cassava and ndengu in the three counties.
Efficient crops and cropping systems
To achieve appropriate land use, efficient inters and sequence-cropping systems will be
recommended based on soil type, rainfall and length of growing seasons. Some of the constraints
for wider adoption by the farming communities are preference for fodder genotypes in cereals
rather than grains for feed to live stock, lack of suitable farm implements to seed in different
ratios, delay in planting. These have to be refined under on-farm situations for greater acceptance
by the farmers.
Farm implements
Proper tillage and precise placement of seed and organic fertilizers in the moist zone are most
critical for successful crop establishment in dry lands. Since the sowing of crops must be
completed in a short span of time, use of appropriate implements is necessary to cover large area
before the seed zone dries out. Suitable implements have been recommended for various
locations to meet this requirement. These are designed to suit the soil type, crop and the draught
power availability. In many cases, the existing local implement used by the farmers have been
improved to increase their working efficiency.

Integrated pest management (IPM)
Pests and deceases constitute a major constraint to increased food production. Crop losses due to
pest attack range from 10-30 percent depending on the crop and environment. Complete crop
failure may occur in case of serious attack. Indiscriminate use of the pesticides in rainfed crops
will lead to harmful side effects such as direct toxically to the applicator or consumer,
development of strains or pests resistant to pesticides, resurgence of pest species, outbreak of
secondary pesticides, destruction of non-target organisms such as parasites and predators and
accumulation of harmful residues of food products. Integrated pest management is one of the
alternatives for the chemicals used for pest management. IPM encourages the most comfortable
and ecologically sound combination of available pest suppression techniques and to keep the pest
population below economic threshold. Easily adaptable and economically viable integrated pest
management strategies have been developed for the control of major pest in rainfed crops like
cotton and pulses.
Alternate Land use Systems
Despite evolving a number of production technologies, arable cropping in drylands continues to

suffer from instability due to aberrant weather. To provide stability to farm income and also
utilize the marginal lands for production of fodder, fuel wood and fibre, a number of alternative
land use systems have been evolved based on location specific experimentation. In addition to
the above general guidelines, specific experiments have been carried out to develop land use
practices for different categories of soils across Makueni, Machakos and Kitui integrating annual
crops with other crops like tropical fruit tress such as mangoes.

Integration of live stock with rainfed farming systems
As we implement IDFP, live stock will be treated as part of the farming system in rainfed
agriculture. The soil, plant, animal cycle is the basis for all feed used by the animals. The
livestock in the rainfed regions are weak and farmers in this region often sell their cattle due to
the scarcity of fodder. This then means that land not suitable for agriculture has to be diverted for
raising fodder need of animals through the appropriate alternate land use system such as
improved pasture, horti-pasture and tree techniques.
Integration of the technologies through watershed approaches
The concept of watershed is important in efficient management of water resources. As the entire
process of agricultural development depends upon the status of water resources, the watershed
with distinct hydrological boundary is considered ideal for taking up a development programme.
In brief, planning and designing of all soil conservation structures will be carried out considering
the peak runoff. In this context, the watershed concept will be of practical significance. Also, the
entire development needs will be taken up on topographic considerations from ridge to valley.
Farming system approach
During the course of our project it has been increasingly noticed that unlike irrigated areas, it is
difficult to develop profitable technologies for heterogeneous agro-ecological and socio-
economic conditions of small holders in arid and semi-arid regions. Since, the problems are
complex addressing only a component of the farming system, e.g crop variety, fertilizer use or
even crop husbandry per se is not expected to bring about a significant increase in the
productivity as witnessed in irrigated areas. The extension strategy should be such as to match
this challenge. The farming systems perspective, pegged on watershed approach therefore can be
the appropriate management strategy for such regions.

The following steps constitute the farming systems approach:
 PRA and assessment of socio-economic conditions of people.

 Identification of ITK (indigenous technical knowledge)
 Collection of available technological knowledge on various components of the farming
system – arable farming, animal husbandry, water harvesting and alternate land use
systems etc.
 Focus group (farmers) interaction to identify appropriate technology for different
categories of farmers.
 Identification of lead farmers to function as facilitator in technology application and
adoption.
 Identification of points of synergy among systems components.
 Structuring of technological components with maximum synergy.
 Phasing of program over the project period
Innovative Agricultural Approaches in our New Strategy
Protective Forest Stands (PFS)

Protective forest stands (PFSs) are new innovative features planted on farmland as away of
reclaiming and protecting both agricultural and wild land. Unlike agricultural crops, the plants
used in PFSs are not harvested or removed from their setting. Instead they are left to grow
naturally as part of a new ecosystem in which agricultural and wild plants can develop together.
PFSs have many benefits. They protect the crops and the soils on which they grow from wind
erosion and have a beneficial effect on the microclimate of fields. Their roots also absorb ground
water, which is released via transpiration, thereby helping to lower the water table (a process
known as bio drainage) and reducing the likelihood of soils salting and swapping. The stands
also help to reduce surface evaporation from water sources and prevent silting by trapping
airborne particles before they fall into bodies of water. PFSs also add into the areas biodiversity
by providing areas in which plants and other species can grow and flourish free from human
intervention. Local communities will benefit from an aesthetically improved landscape. Another

of their long term advantages is as carbon sinks, which are thought to help to ameliorate the
effects of global warming caused by the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide
PFSs act as windbreakers, reduce surface erosion and they can prevent landslides if planted in
gullies. PFS are of two categories: field protective (wind breaking) and water regulative the most
important aspect of this project is that it can be an intervention in order to save natural and
agricultural environments from total degradation. The careful introduction and positioning of
well designed PFS can renovate an area ecosystem, protect and expand its biodiversity, and
increase the economic value and productivity of its agricultural lands
As in any farming system, insect pests are a constant threat to farmers. Although the PFS may
have their own populations of insects, many of these are beneficial because they prey on the crop
pests, including ground beetles, lady birds and lace wings, PFS therefore can transform an area
into productive landscapes, they not only improve the microclimate of the fields but also
diversify the landscape, creating favorable habitats for beneficial insects and soil micro flora and
making fields more stable and productive.
Water Retaining pits and Crop holes
Introduction
Rainfall in the arid or semi-arid zones of lower eastern area is often poorly distributed, with
much of the year’s total arriving all at once in intense, heavy storms. As a result, these regions
are vulnerable to drought, soil degradation and soil erosion caused by the run-off from heavy
rain. In some areas, excess water during years of unusually high rainfall also conspires to reduce
crop yields. The water retaining and collection pits are essentially designed to act as runoff
water micro catchments and in the process prevent soil erosion by runoff water. They are of two
types.
Water retaining pits
Water –retaining pits trap runoff and allow it to seep into the soil. A series of pits are dug into
the ground where runoff normally occurs. The soil from the pits is used to make banks around

the pits (keep the top soil and put it on top of the banks). Furrows carry excess water from one
pit to the amount of runoff: a typical size is 2m square and 1 m deep.
Crops Hole
A Crops hole is an intensive cropping practice in which seeds are planted in a hole that has been
filled with compost or other organic fertilizer. This practice aims to increase crop production by
breaking the soil hardpan, and to improve soils which have been continuously cropped. The
holes measure 60cm * 60 cm*60 cm (2 feet*2 feet *2 feet). The distance between the holes is
also 60 cm (2 feet). Each hole is filled with about 15 kg of manure or more, depending on
availability. A layer of dry vegetation is placed at the bottom to a height of around 10cm
followed by another layer of green vegetation and at the top the mixture top soil and manure is
refilled back to the hole leaving the top part of the hole empty at a height of 15cm for water
catchment. In 1 or 2 seasons the vegetation decomposes and eliminates the need to add more
organic material in the preceding seasons.
Advantages
o Increase the productivity of very small areas of land.

o Helps to break the soil hardpan, allowing better crop root development.
o Allows a higher plant population in a given area.
o As the hole’s fertility rises, less organic material is used in following seasons.

PROBLEM TO BE ADDRESSED
Small scale farmers in Makueni, Kitui and Machakos are faced with different forms of economic
and social challenges just like in other parts of the world. There are evident difficulties in access
to finance, lack of infrastructure and equipment. In these counties, farmers lack support of
marketing and advisory boards. It is also worth noting that there is also evident lack of access to
timely information and therefore farmers do not know which markets would offer them the best
prices for their harvest.
When it rains well, the farmers normally harvest the same kind of farm produce and take them to
the same nearby markets which automatically leads to low prices, leading to post harvest losses
of about 40% to 50% as middlemen normally jump in to take advantage of the situation. This
keeps the farmers economic gains at an all time low. It is due to this dilapidated state of farmers
in Kitui, Makueni and Machakos that Agribusiness and Environmental Focus for Africa
conceived the IDFP which targets communities, farmers and families with the aim of creating a
paradigm shift in which small holder farmers practice farming as a business, as opposed to
subsistence farming. Further, we sustain the productivity of the agricultural sector through
initiatives that foster increasing returns to land, labor, and capital after discovering after realizing
that many farmers do not understand the most advantageous crops for their farms
Through research, progress assessments and experience, Agribusiness and Environmental Focus
for Africa has come to identify some crucial crops that can be most beneficial to farmers in
ASAL areas when properly grown. Emphasis for better and modern farming of ndengu, sorghum
and cassava can help realize sustainable productivity by small scale farmers thereby uplifting
many farmers’ livelihoods from poverty. Since the start of IDFP project the three crops have
proven to be among the most suitable crops in ASAL with less farming cost, high resistance to
drought yet with high returns compared to many other crops grown in the area.
Moreover, the three crops can be easily added value through simple processes to come up with
various more valuable products thus high profits to the farmers. As one of major elements of the
project, it will target women producers by providing improvements in management practices,
introduce best organic farming practices, expand access to markets and credit, increase

organizational and market efficiency and restoration, and protection of resiliency in production
and livelihoods.

TARGET GROUP AND AREA
This project is set to benefit the residents of Makueni, Kitui and Machakos in Eastern province;
Through IDFP, Agribusiness and Environmental Focus for Africa has been promoting
sustainable agribusiness in order to revive agriculture which was formally a major economic
activity and a source of livelihood to many farmers in the region. Together with men, the IDFP
will center its attention to women and youth who seem to be economically neglected in the
project area. By up scaling the IDFP, livelihoods will be improved and more employment
opportunities will be created for women and youth in the region.
Through the IDFP, Agribusiness and Environmental Focus also intends to further promote green
growth by introducing to farmers green energy solutions such as solar lamps for lighting and
wind energy for irrigation. Organic farming will be greatly encouraged to ensure natural
ecosystems are well reserved by the farmers. By the end of the year the project expects the small
scale farmers doing the said crops to be commercially active following a high potential and
suitable land for large scale farming. Once this project is successfully implemented, it will create
employment opportunities for the jobless youth and at the same time improve the livelihoods of
poor rural folks living around these areas.

PROJECT GOALS & OBJECTIVES
In the up scaling of IDFP, Agribusiness and Environmental Focus for Africa intends to continue
working with initially intended farmers but close focus will be put on farmers doing cassava,
green gram and sorghum which are felt to have bigger impact to the project as informed by
project progress evaluations. The project will aim at empowering farmers in the project area
through adoption of better and modern farming methods. High yields resulting from better
farming practices will thereafter be put in value addition process to produce more valuable
products such a sorghum flour, green gram packaging, cassava crisps, cassava cocoa etc. The
processed products will absolutely fetch higher prices in markets and subsequently improve the
livelihoods of the farmers.
Development Goal
i. To improve the living conditions of the 10 000 micro and small scale farmers and lift
them out of abject poverty by promoting modern and innovative farming methods and
practices.
ii. To enable 10 000 micro and small scale farmers to afford essential goods and services for
a more dignified lifestyle.
iii. To propagate self sufficiency, independence, self empowerment of more than 6500
women.

Project Objectives
The IDFP seeks to achieve the following objectives:
 To update farming database for farmers doing the three crops ( Ndengu, Cassava and Sorghum)
in the entire project area for future planning and evaluation.
 To promote green growth farming to 10,000 farmers through introduction of productive

landscapes. These will include training the farmers on protective forest stands,
hydroponic, farming and water retaining pits and crops holes, innovative drip kit
irrigation, wind power irrigation and organic farming practices thus ensuring natural
undisturbed ecosystems. Solar lamps will also be introduced to farmers as an attempt to
promote the use of green energy in the project area which is cheap and environmental
friendly.
 To train 10,000 micro and small scale farmers on better farming methods, market
research, farming systems and branding with 85% of them being women and 10% being
youth. This will cover cassava farming, sorghum & millet, and ndengu farming.
 To form linkages and research partnerships with the South East University Colleges of
the Nairobi University in Kitui and Makueni, Kenyatta University and continue our
partnership with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute. 120 scholars, students and
researchers from these institutions will be invited to offer technical advice.
 To liaise with agricultural input suppliers including Amiran, Kenya Seed Company and
and other farm input suppliers
 To plan and facilitate 12 literary seminars, 4 in each region with financial institutions like
Cooperative Bank, Kenya Women Finance Trust, K-Rep, Faulu, Family and Equity
Banks for the 10000 farmers by the end of the 3 years
 To create at least 2500 jobs directly to training and field officers, distributors, retailers
and sales people.

 To map out organizations and other players with whom the IDFP will liaise with in order
to improve and enrich the farming system. Our target will be cooperatives, government
agencies, finance institutions, large scale buyers and supermarkets.
 To promote and encourage diversity in farming so as to enhance food security and To

facilitate the formation of an umbrella marketing commercial production units and
commercial villages that will be linked to Makueni producers and processors, in order for
the farmers to gain access to better prices.
 Create more linkages with supermarket chains and small retail shops in the region. We
have so far formed linkages with Ngooni Hyper, Kieti Kamba Stores, Peter Mulei
supermarkets, and Naivas Supermarkets.
 To conduct an exit survey so as to bring out the impact of the project interventions.
 To conduct an evaluation assessment of the implications of the project interventions at

the end of the year.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
From the situational analysis, it emerges that small holder farmers in the project areas face lots of
challenges and these include and not limited to:
 Lack of supporting infrastructure
 Limited or no access to financing
 Limited access to new agricultural technologies and practices
 Lack of information on agricultural production and marketing.
 Lack of extension services due to the fact that government extension officers
are overwhelmed because of the expanse of the areas to be covered.
 Lack of post harvest preservation and value addition skills
 High prices of other essential commodities used by the farmers
 Similarity or monotony of products during productive seasons hence low

economic benefits due to low prices.
 Disillusionment of farmers - Different organizations have approached them with

different proposals on what they should grow.
 Lack of a cooperative marketing arm: each farmer is left on their own and therefore
there is no cohesion between farmers
 Lack of market information, the presence of market constraints and exploitation

by middlemen.
In order to tackle these problems and promote access to adequate food for all, Agribusiness and
Environmental Focus launched the IDFP Model (shown in the diagram in page 31) that is aimed
at reducing poverty and helping individuals and households to improve their nutritional well-
being and standards of living.

The model supports agribusiness through tomato, poultry, mango, sorghum, millet, watermelon
and cassava agro-enterprise projects. We support socially responsible and economically viable
entrepreneurship by women groups and facilitate agricultural innovation as well as Value
Addition while at the same time ensuring that these methods of production do not interfere with
the environment.
The project will undertake various interventions and activities to realize the set goals and
objectives which are mainly based on extensive research that has been happening in the past
three years when this project has been taking place. Since inception, the project has been entirely
run with the full involvement of the members of the local community in order to foster full
ownership and nurture sustainability. When the funding for the up scaling phase is availed, a
consultative meeting by both the board of directors and all other stakeholders will be held in
order to lay the way forward for the project.
At Agribusiness and Environmental Focus, we have a wealth of experience in working with

research and extension institutions countrywide and we shall therefore provide sound leadership
and the coordination required to expand the expertise right from farming, farming system and
marketing.
Overall, the project aims at accomplishing the following goals:
 Develop market information on prices where farmers will be able to access to sell their
produce especially for the three focus crops.
 Introduce innovative ASAL irrigation practices to enable all year round production for
some crops e.g. horticultural crops
 Ensure farmers adopt organic farming to realize green growth in project area
 Develop a food market structure through which farmers can sell their produce.
 Strengthen extension services through collaboration and networking with government

service in the areas of expansion.

 Educate farmers on the risks and dangers of single cropping by promoting diversification
of food production.
 Introduce affordable financial services to fund agricultural enterprises and farming

activities through cooperatives.
 Enable farmers save on high fuel cost and increased input prices by developing viable
approaches.
 Promote technical knowledge among farmers and good agricultural farming practices and
inputs.
 Identify and develop alternative sources of energy that could be used to pump water for
irrigation.
 Address the structural flaws of the productive system.
 Increase the season ability of production and the quality of the produce.
 Advocate for good government policies on agriculture through forums and seminars.
 Reduce the levels of post harvest losses and poor storage facilities.
 Increase the overall participation of women and youth in farming and socio-economic
activities.

The IDFP Model

PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
According to research and findings, sustainable agribusiness is an upcoming occupation with

high prospects of growth but is faced by challenges that if not addressed; the farmers will
continue to suffer. There is a high need to increase the output of small scale farmers so as to
boost production on a long term basis and create sustainable food security.
Food security and the need for increased income by small holder farmers through mixed and
integrated farming is a major concern for all the farmers in the semi arid regions of Machakos,
Makueni and Kitui. There is therefore a high need to develop and promote farming systems and a
subsequent need for quick access to markets in order to increase farmers’ returns.
Eastern province is one of Kenya’s poorest regions with 67% of the population living on less
than $1 a day. Agricultural sector growth in Eastern Province has performed poorly over the
recent years due to a number of constraints which include and not limited to:
a. Poor farming methods and techniques.

b. Lack of agricultural finance and lack of information on the same
c. Frequent and prolonged droughts, frequent and more severe water shortages, and famine
d. Non availability of quality seeds and inappropriate production technologies especially for
small holder farming
e. High cost of farm inputs,
f. Lack of access to credit by the majority of small holder farmers, particularly women &
the youth,
g. Inadequate water for both household and farming activities;
h. Over reliance on rain fed agriculture as opposed to irrigation which has failed due to long
droughts, and other related causes.
i. Stalled development activities because the available incomes have to be spent on
purchasing food.

A recent Government of Kenya Welfare Monitoring Survey and a Participatory Poverty
Assessment report shows that the incidence of rural food poverty has been 51%, while overall
poverty reached 53% of the rural population over the past years with lower eastern being one of
the most affected regions.
Identification of key suitable crops for ASAL areas is paramount. Ndengu, cassava and sorghum
are among the most profitable crops in the project area and up scaling of such farming can
benefit significant number of farmers hence improving livelihoods of many people. Funding will
enable us up scale this project and eventually end up with over 30,000 direct and indirect
beneficiaries. It is an intervention that will address issues to do with the dignity of farmers and
their households.

ACTIVITIES & DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Research
All projects under Agribusiness and Environmental Focus are entirely guided by research. The
first phase of research was done four years ago when the project was being initiated at the first
phase. This included an initial review of the target beneficiaries that we had at the beginning and
it is this information that the project coordinator used to identify opinion and team leaders in the
villages. Communication was established through these leaders and field visits followed
thereafter and subsequent research surveys were done, followed by implementation of the
project. During this year we conducted a baseline survey that gave us insight to point out the
most valuable crops grown in the project area.
In order to implement the IDFP, a research will be done to map out the organizations and
individuals with whom we can link in order to be able ensure that our impact is well felt. This
research will also identify the traditional cereal sector players, cassava farmers, mango farmers
as well as additional cooperative and micro finance institutions, super markets, suppliers of farm
inputs, government agents as well as other players whose inputs to the project would help boost
our chances of success.
Assessment surveys on progress of the project will be conducted periodically to provide timely
information for corrective measures to be taken. This continuous research will part of knowledge
creation for the project. All the research surveys will be well documented and kept well for the
purposes of;
 project evaluation and projection
 accurate record keeping
 Ongoing feedback about project progress to the community, donors and all stakeholders.
 for future use by Agribusiness and Environmental Focus for Africaand other parties

As the project goes on, all the activities will be recorded and quarterly reports will be send to the
donor on the overall progress and implementation. These reports will detail out the milestones as
well as the challenges faced. Subsequently, the reports will give details on usage of funds and the
experiences of the target group and beneficiaries. These reports will further be accompanied by
photos and recorded interviews. A summary report on the project will be produced at the end of
the project and will detail out the situation at the beginning of the up scaling and compare it out
with conditions at the end of the project. Finally, an exit survey will be done at the end of the
next three years when the up scaling phase will be coming to an end.
Cassava farming system
Long-favored by African peasant farmers for its resilience and as an insurance against famine,
cassava is currently receiving renewed attention for commercialization. Thanks to renewed
interest in the commercial potential of the Cassava root both as a cash crop and as a buffer for
household food security and nutrition. Exploiting the crop’s unique characteristic for thriving in
poor soils and low rainfall conditions, Cassava has been identified as one of Africa’s subsistence
crops that hold the key to poverty alleviation. It also offers smallholder farmers a measure of
flexibility because it can be cultivated as both as subsistence and cash crop. In addition, its
perennial characteristic allows it to be harvested for more than two seasons thus widening the
harvesting window during famine.

A cassava plantation during
the dry season
A cassava plantation during the

wet season
The above pictures show a cassava plantation during the dry and wet seasons in the project area
In this farming system, we have partnered with Yatta Farm Growers and Processors C.B.O, and
other stakeholders namely KARI-Katumani and the Kenya Red Cross Society in implementing
cassava root production and value addition plant in the area. Currently the C.B.O comprises of 5
groups; Kakumini, Matuu (amuka), Kyasioni farmers, Maiuni,with a membership of more than
150. The current acreage of the crop is more than 250 acres. The following varieties are being
grown: mm/92/5280, X-mariakani and 196/067.

Where is all this Cassava destined for, considering that it is a highly perishable commodity with
a shelf life of not more than 24 hours after it has been lifted out of the ground? While some of
the Cassava will end up on the plates of hundreds of families in the vicinity, the most exciting
thing is that it will be available for longer periods because the farmers have been trained to chip
and dry their harvests before storing it. In this form, it will keep fresh for up to nine months. In
addition, the group has a milling facility- courtesy of KARI- Katumani through East African
Agricultural Productivity Project (EAAPP). These milling machines has been of great help to
farmers in terms of processing and value addition since it has enabled them produce cassava
flour, cocoa and starch which fetch good prices in the market. We are assisting the group to sell
the product locally and they produce on order, however we have been able to pay KEBS
certification and inspection fee so that the group can market their products countrywide and
beyond.
Harvested cassava roots
Dried cassava chips

The above picture shows cassava processing equipment

Current Cassava farming systems
Boiled
cassava roots
Fresh
Deep frying
cassava roots and leaves Packaging Consumers
the chips to
make crisps
Cassava Milling Heating

chipping using a chipperSolar drying chips into flour to make cassava
Cassava the chips
machine flour beverage
harvesting
Pressing
the chips to extract
Evaporating
the liquid to
obtain starch

We are keen on improving the cassava farming system in the following ways before mid next
year:
1. Scaling up cassava production in other areas of Machakos, Makueni and Kitui, the current
producer groups will train new groups and supply the cassava cuttings from their farm
2. Cassava in the animal feed industry
The industrial buyers are attracted by the village-level value addition process that involves
cleaning, chipping and drying which greatly reduces their production costs at their plants. By
working in producer groups, farmers produce sufficient quantities to attract larger buyers,
including animal feed manufacturers and flour millers. Although, world over, cassava is widely
used in feeding pigs, cattle, sheep and poultry, utilization of cassava in animal feeds is still low
in Kenya. With the advanced dairy and poultry industry in the country, cassava chips have the
potential to replace 10-30 % of maize grains in animal feed rations.
3. Cassava for export
Far East and Japan import tons of dried cassava leaves per annum. There is therefore a great
potential for export of dried cassava chips and dried cassava to similar industries in the
neighboring countries and overseas, such as China and Japan

Expected new cassava farming systems
Boiled cassava
roots
Deep frying
the chips to make crisps Packaging Consumers
Fresh cassava
root and leaves
Cassava Milling
Cassava Solar drying Heating
chipping using a chipper chips into flour
harvesting the chips flour to make cassava
machine
beverage
Pressing the
chips to extract Industrial
cassava fluid use
Evaporating
the liquid to obtain starch Export
market
Solar
drying cassava

Green gram farming system
This farming system seeks the option of improving green grams and guidelines for promoting it
as a crop for diversification of income, nutrition and food security in the lower eastern region. It
is also ranked among the high value traditional crops in the country. Locally the demand exceeds
supply (with a 90kg bag retailing between 6000-9000 locally), hence the need to boost
production to meet the excess demand and therefore there is the need to improve its production -
this is possible in the lower eastern regions especially with the introduction of new green gram
varieties: n26, by the Kenya agricultural research institute and ks20 by the Kenya seed company
which are drought resistant and high yielding. In this system, we are going to use the furrow
dyking technique which will ensure that the run-off water is collected and used up by the crop in
the entire growing period. This technique will also help combat soil erosion at the same time
turning fields into productive landscapes and thus ensuring better production through several
seasons.
Green gram farming system
Green gram farming system will mainly comprise two aspects namely grading and packaging.
Grading
Grading means the sorting of the homogenous lots of the produce according to the fixed grade
standard. Green gram produce will be graded in accordance with various quality factors. These
will be beneficial to the farmers, traders as well as to the consumers. Grading the produce before
sale will enable green gram farmers to get better price for their produce.
Packaging
Packaging is an important function for every produce and so is in the marketing of green gram. It
is a practice to protect the produce from any damage during storage, transportation and other
marketing aspects. Good packaging of Green gram will not only facilitate convenience in
transportation and storage but also attract consumers to pay more. The packaging will further
reduce the marketing cost and protect the quality.
Home
consumption
Retailers Wholesalers
Harvested Open air

green grams Local traders markets
Supply to institutions
(schools and hospitals)

Sorghum Farming System
Sorghum is proving to be better than maize for arid areas because of its hardiness and ability to
tolerate low moisture, flooding and soil infertility. Though the yield of maize surpasses that of
sorghum when both plants are planted in a high potential area, sorghum has proven to be a food
security crop for arid areas. The earliest sorghum variety registered in Kenya was ‘Serendo’ that
was released in 1970 by Kenya agricultural institute in collaboration with the Kenya Seed
Company
The ‘Gaddam’ variety of sorghum is the most notable variety as

multinational companies like Kenya breweries are using to produce
beer.
A well-filled gadam sorghum head ready for harvesting

Current Sorghum Farming System
Home
consumption
Milling at
posh mills
Drying and
Sorghum
threshing Retailers Consumers
harvesting Wholesaler
Local
outlets
Expected new farming system
The demand for sorghum in Kenya has shot up dramatically following the decision by the East
Africa Breweries Limited (EABL) to use the produce for the manufacture of one of its beer
brands. The type of sorghum being supplied to the EABL is known as gaddam sorghum, which
matures in three months and grows in areas that receive average rainfall. The seeds have been
developed by the Kenya Agriculture Research Institute (KARI).

Key stakeholders in this farming system will be Smart Logistics Solution, EABL, Kari-
Katumani, the Ministry of Agriculture Mbooni East district and our producer groups in Tawa and
Kalawa, Smart Logistics Solutions will buy harvested sorghum from farmers and supply it to
EABL. This will ensure elimination of middlemen, increased income for the farmer and assured
market since the production will be on contract basis.
Home
consumption
Milling at
posh mills
Drying and Smart

Sorghum logistics solutions EABL
threshing
harvesting

African Leafy Vegetables (ALV) Concept
During the in-season a lot of African Leafy Vegetables (ALVs) go to waste because there are too
many in the market; however, there is limited supply of these vegetables during the off-season,
thus leading to increased prices and reduced consumption. Large quantities of ALVs spoil due to
insufficient processing capacity and market difficulties caused by intensifying competition from
exotic vegetables and lack of value added products. There had been no sustainable processing of
ALVs into value added products due to lack of low cost technologies, leading to poor
distribution and inconsistent supply. Traditional sun drying methods often have yielded poor
quality products which have lead to loss of sensory appeal from consumers.
The development of ALVs value -added products involves the minimization of wastage during
the in-season and to ensure availability of vegetables during the off-season, hence resulting in
year-round supply of these nutrient dense commodities at affordable prices. Production,
marketing and consumption of these vegetables has potential social, economic and health
benefits including contribution to food security, as a source of livelihood and a good source of
essential nutrients. They are known to be especially rich in micronutrients such as vitamins
(especially A and C), minerals and certain essential amino acids such as lysine. ALVs have also
been associated with management of various diseases including HIV/AIDS, diabetes and high
blood pressure. Besides these private value attributes, ALVs also have a public value as their
continued production and use contribute to cultural enrichment and biodiversity conservation.
Studies have also shown that countries that retain indigenous vegetable diets and have high
consumption of these vegetables are much less likely to be affected by cardiovascular diseases,
diabetes and other adverse consequences of nutrition in transition (Johns & Sthapit, 2004). They
are compatible in use with starchy staples and represent a cheap but quality nutrition to the poor
both in urban and rural areas where malnutrition is widespread (Maundu, 1997).
The promotion of ALV increases agricultural systems diversification, not only in order to
improve human nutrition but to achieve more resilient, profitable and sustainable small-holder
production and marketing systems. They are well adapted to local agro-ecological conditions, are
resistant to diseases and pests, and require little external input. All the major indigenous

vegetables i.e, Solanum nigrum, Gynandropsis gynandra, Amaranthus sp, Vigna unguiculata,
Crotalaria brevidens, Corchorus olitorius, Asystasia shimperi, Basella alba, Brassica carinata,
Cucurbitaceaespp
Capacity building
Training is an important part of this project as it focuses on farming, branding, value addition
and marketing. To date, all the groups that we are working with have all been trained on proper
seed selection, green house management, poultry keeping, post harvest handling, financial
literacy, entrepreneurship, business skills, cooperative management, marketing skills, value
addition, market research, group dynamics and savings and credit. Each group has an account at
the local K-rep or Kenya Women Finance Trust Branch. By mid of the year, all the farming
group heads (200) for the three focus crops (ndengu, sorghum and cassava) will have received
training on organic farming, modern ASAL irrigation techniques as well as on all the above
mentioned topics. Agribusiness and Environmental Focus for Africastaff, partners and external
experts will handle the training.
Establishment of demonstration plots
The IDFP will set up demonstration farms that will work with farmers in ensuring that sustainable land
use practices and new approaches are passed on to ensure efficient technology transfer and development.
These sites will also demonstrate best Agronomic practices to a variety of different groups in the form of
farm walks and talks.
These farms have a bias in what our farmers do and want to learn in relation to cropping systems, pest
management, productive landscapes, water harvesting and other sound farming practices. Though the key
purpose of the demonstration farms has been to train farmers on good agronomic practices and
demonstrate their potential impact on production and quality, they have also provided an important
platform for the testing of various inputs such as seeds and organic fertilizers.

Commercial Villages
In order for farmers to be able to maximize on the benefits derived from the project, they must
come into small productive and marketing units. Our target here is 200 groups that will later on
be transformed into an umbrella cooperative union, the Collective Marketing Unit. This is a
cooperative union that will not only help in marketing but also help harmonize the various
constituents of this relatively new industry. The Collective Marketing Unit has been linked to
Kikima Farmers Cooperative Society and Makueni producers and processors, an already
established society, in order for the farmers to gain access to better prices. Savings and
contributions will continue for the current and additional farmers in the next two years to gain
access to farming credit.
Marketing of produce
One key rationale for the project has been to support farmers access domestic markets, as the
requirements for export have become harder to meet. Though the door has not been closed on exports,
local markets have been the key point of interest. The key objective has been ensuring farmer groups gain
access to more lucrative domestic markets. It has been recognized from the beginning that access to
markets will be a key determinant in the success of the project. The project has therefore adopted a
strategy which aims to strengthen the ability of the groups to market their own produce. To achieve this,
several activities have been carried out during the period under review.
These are the:
• Establishment of marketing committees for each commercial village
• Training of marketing committees

• Exposure of marketing committees to retail chains and food
Marketing Activities Involved
Marketing begins at the farmers’ fields. Activities included in it are discussed below:
Information and extension – This informs and helps the farmers about the world and the
domestic markets so that they can adjust their production according to the demand. It also
informs them about the quality, variety, whole-sale and retail prices of commodities.
Assembling the produce - The produce is assembled either through personal delivery at the
collection center or it may be collected from the farms. The Collective Marketing Unit will
establish collection centers in outlying areas and set up mobile collection services which will
visit the various collection points according to a fixed schedule.
Grading - Through grading, the produce are sorted out into lots of uniform quality and
characteristics. It will be advantageous for farmers to make use of standard grades recognized by
national trading customs.
Storage –Farmers have food stores where they keep their harvest before they take it to the
market. In the up scaling phase, store houses or warehouses will be well planned in their size and
design, which will largely depend upon the form in which the produce will be sold. It will be the
responsibility of farmers to identify and agree on a central place as their collective store. These
stores will be such as not to allow the goods to be spoiled, deteriorate in quality or weight and to
be pilfered.
Processing - Processing is done either to make the produce marketable or to avoid loss in quality
before it reaches the consumer. This is done by (1) changing the appearance or substance of the
produce and (2) increasing durability through application of modern methods of value addition.

Packing - For the prevention of loss in handling while in transit, the agricultural products,
particularly fruits and vegetables will be properly packed.
Selling - In selling the agricultural produce, the Collective Marketing Unit will act either as an
agent or as an independent trader. Currently, farmers sell their products collectively in their
groups.
Transportation -Transportation of agricultural produce from the farms to the buyers,

marketing centers or processing centers is full of risks. The success of the Collective
Marketing Unit will depend to a large extent on elaborate planning and coordination.
Advocacy
Agribusiness and Environmental Focus will promote advocacy initiatives that will help farmers
to get good prices and economic gains. The project manager with leaders of farmer groups has
established market linkages for farmers’ produce. Farmers have been sent to workshops where
issues affecting them have been discussed. In the next phase, the project manager will continue
to ensure participation of farmers in advocacy activities within the ministry of Agriculture.
Gender Mainstreaming
During the IDFP, we will continue assessing the implications for women and men in all planned
actions, in all areas and at all project phases. This has been our strategy for making women’s as
well as men's concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of projects so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is
not perpetuated. Our ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality and ensure that women can
participate in farming systems as full partners and decision-makers. The overall goal is to
improve farming systems performance, with both women and men able to enjoy the benefits and
implicate it at our levels and nurture it even in their family units. We have so far developed an
organizational gender.

Our approach to Gender mainstreaming is as listed below:
(1) We work with women on typical “women’s products” such as poultry.
(2) We open up opportunities for women to work on what are traditionally “men’s
commodities” or in men’s domains, e.g introducing women to farming systems bee keeping.
(3) We support women and men in organizing for change by building capacity, organization,
sensitization and access to finance.
(4) We use standards and certification to promote gender equity, and
(5) We promote gender-responsible business.
In the next phase, gender mainstreaming will consist of the following activities;
 Agri-profocus staff training on gender

 Group training on gender mainstreaming, lobby and advocacy
 Women group leaders training and coaching on leadership and governance
 Training of Trainers on gender issues in our community

Year 1 Detailed Implementation Schedule
ACTIVITY 0–3 4 -6 7 -9 9 - 12
Months Months Months Months
1. Progress Assessment
Survey
2. Identify more beneficiaries
3. Liaise with collaborating

Institutions
4. Contact Suppliers
5. Trainings
6. Gender Mainstreaming
7. Establishment of nurseries
8. Ndengu farming
9. Cassava organic farming
10. Development of the ALC

value Chain
11. Sorghum organic Farming
12. Value Addition

(processing)
13. Marketing of value added

products

14. Agricultural extension
Support
15. Reporting
16. Monitoring
17. Farmers’ records database

updating
18. Evaluation

2 Year Detailed Activity Plan
Time Frame
Objective Activities Expected Results Monitoring
0 – 6 months Registration, 1214 farmers doing Surveys/reports/field

recruitment and sorghum farming.
Promote cassava, visits.
training farmers on
sorghum, & ndengu 1400 farmers doing
farming systems
farming. ndengu farming Proper record-
cassava, sorghum, &
ndengu farming and 1150 farmers doing keeping.
ALVs cassava farming
Preparation of
Manuals/Handbooks
Vetting of trainers
Purchase seedlings
and distribution e.g.
ndengu, cassava and
ALVs
Construction of
demonstration
centers.
Payment of staff
wages/salaries
Transport &
Coordination.
Liaison with ministry

of agriculture for
extension services,
Post harvest trainings

7 – 24 months Over 2000 farmers
Surveys/reports/field
knowledgeable on
To set up value Value addition of ndengu organic visits.
addition processing, various farm farming
develop market products
linkages, Capacity 6000 famers with Proper record
building and Develop market financial literacy
networks keeping.
Gender
Mainstreaming 2000 farmers well
Awareness creation trained on cassava Farmer/groups
on marketing organic farming
opportunities and value addition regular assessment
Field visits 2000 farmers
Analysis of existing engaged in Cassava
market trends value addition
Market survey & 2000 farmers well

linkage creation trained on sorghum
and ndengu, organic
Research and farming and value
addition
development of
180,000 Kgs of
farming systems sorghum packed for
selling
100,000 Kgs of
Green gram (Ndengu)
packed for selling
80,000 Kgs of
Cassava flour packed
for selling
6,000 farmers
trained on reduction
of post harvest losses

The commerce
villages and the
Collective Marketing
Unit.
At least 3 large
supermarket chains
linked to the
Collective Marketing
Unit.
At least 30 medium-
sized shops secured
for each of the
products.
Achievements of Agribusiness and Environmental Focus for Africa to

date
The IDFP has been taking place since the last 4 years and we now seek to revamp it to the next
level after which an exit strategy must be put into place so that the project can actively sustain
itself.
Research activities and Market surveys have also been conducted over the last four years and this
helped us identify the most potential economic activities for the region. In summary, to date the
project has 5,800 direct beneficiaries that are spread throughout project area.

Challenges faced and lessons learnt
Poor infrastructure is a major challenge in the project area given that most of farms are
connected to poorly maintained murrum roads. Horticultural farmers such as those dealing with
mango and tomato suffer losses as a result of delayed market access of their produce, a fact
attributed to road inaccessibility.
An inadequate fund to successfully implement all our project activities is also an obstacle. We
would wish to reach out to as many farmers as possible within our project area but as an
organization we have limited capacity to do so. This in turn limits our impacts in the project area.
For instance, Greenhouse construction which was one of our objectives is proving to be an
expensive affair and many farmers are not able to contribute towards it.
Most of our farmer’s crops depend on rain fed agriculture and this means that the farms have to
be irrigated during the dry season, making it beyond the affordability of many smallholder
farmers.
It is also worth mentioning that the project is being carried out in an arid and semi arid region
which experiences regular draughts and famines. This makes hard for the farmers to successfully
apply new farming technologies received from our programs thus de-motivating them greatly.
The lessons learnt are as listed below:
• Farmers may not be the best marketers of their own produce to high end markets
• Diversified market outlets are required for various crop grades: Cost-benefits analysis needs to be
an integral part of the training:
• There is a need for a staggered planting schedule that is in line with market demand:
• Farmer knowledge, skills and innovations should be integrated in development initiatives that
seek to introduce new crops and technology

How we are addressing the Challenges
In attempt to overcome the above challenges we are conducting the following exercises;-
 Capacity building on issues such as good agricultural practices, entrepreneurship,
leadership and group dynamics and book keeping
 Introducing to farmers innovative ASAL irrigation methods e.g. drip kit irrigation
technology
 Crop selection (depending on soil type and rainfall amount of an area)
 Establishment of demonstration plots
 Marketing farmers’ produce by linking them to buyers
 Linking them to MFIs to access financial services
 Linking them with relatively affordable farm input suppliers
 Partnering with the ministry of agriculture in provision of extension services
Opportunities
Compared to other sectors of the economy, agribusiness has the potential in the project area to
absorb and creatively employ large numbers of underemployed rural people. It can make a
massive contribution to the regions’ poverty reduction strategy. Given that majority of people
living in the project area remain unemployed, IDFP can continuously benefit from such ready
labor to expand its activities and thus it impacts to many households as possible.
Vast land for grazing and fertile soils close to big water bodies such as Athi River remains one of
the biggest opportunities underutilized in the project area. Farmers have stuck in keeping local
breeds which have low or no profit at all whereas the few farmers with improved breeds are
ripping abundantly. More effort on capacity building in this sector is needed. Whereas significant
part of the project area can access large water bodies e.g River Athi and Big water dams, these
resources remain untapped as people around the waters lack or have inadequate irrigation and
farming skills to utilize the water resources around them.

Some of the crops produced in the project area are of export value. However, many farmers have
not realized such opportunities and Agribusiness and Environmental Focus for Africa has already
started sensitization and capacity building strategies to help link farmers with foreign markets
that are by far profitable. Some of these farm produce include: French beans, pineapples,
mangoes, macadamia nuts, avocados, passion fruits, melons, and oranges.
Bee keeping and honey processing are untapped potential in the project area. Given that the
project area is suitable for beekeeping, new ways of bee keeping rather than depending on
traditional ways of bee keeping should be introduced to farmers. Modern bee hives and stingless
bees have proved to produce more honey all year round compared to traditional beekeeping
whose production is subject to weather variations.
There are also opportunities for improvement in technological infrastructure, agriculture and
food processing such as innovative value addition, processing, packaging and marketing. By
ensuring agricultural products are given extra attention such as mentioned above their prices
suddenly increase for the benefit of the farmers. This is one area Agribusiness and
Environmental Focus for Africa is helping farmers to capitalize on.

Human Resource Inputs
(For the 2 year implementation period)
1Project
Coordinator
1 Project 1 Accountant
Manager
Integrated Dry land Farming

Project
1 Gender & Communication 6 Extension
s Officer Officers
1 Agronomist 1 Research & Training

Officer

METHODOLOGY
Our approach to the IDFP project will be guided by three strategies:
1. Mobilizing the community at the grassroots level to build self-reliance. Our strategies
seek to build people’s capacities, leadership and confidence. Our aim is to overcome the
hopelessness people in the Arid and Semi Arid Areas find themselves in, and empower
them not to wait to be rescued, but to take action now to meet their basic needs.
2. Empowering women as key change agents. Women bear almost all responsibility for
meeting the basic needs of the family, yet are systematically denied the resources,
information and freedom of action they need to fulfill this responsibility. Empowering
women to be key change agents is critical to achieving sustainable livelihoods through
agribusiness.
3. Forging partnerships with the county government, CBOs, Universities and Research
Institutions. The county government and community based organizations are closest to
the people and have the mission of working with them to meet their basic needs. This
combined with research from universities and research institutions will ensure that key
aspects of the community livelihoods in relation to food security will be addressed.

Specific activities under this strategy will be as follows:
 Capacity building: - AEFA intends to further mobilize Women in the above identified
regions and transform them into Self Help Groups with membership of about 40 each.
We will then train them in Leadership skills, Group dynamics, Book keeping and other
areas relevant in Group development. The groups conduct regular meetings whereby
members are compelled to participate in group activities e.g. Savings, merry go-rounds
and other activities leading to group cohesiveness and sustainability.
 Technology Transfer: - AEFA has used green houses and irrigation to enhance the
production of tomatoes in these areas. One of our partners, Acess; energy is in the
process of developing a mechanism for us to use solar and wind as renewable sources of
energy for irrigation.
 Networking: - AEFA will continue to network small scale farmers with Professionals,
Business persons, Entrepreneurs Investors, Government representatives, and Local
leaders who will be our collaborators in this project.
 Strengthening the capacity of agricultural entrepreneurs and other stakeholder through
training and networking
 Stimulation of agro-enterprise and market development
 Revitalization of agricultural production and productivity
 Formation of commercial production units and commercial villages
 Boosting of agro-enterprise sector competitiveness and marketing

The IDFP Model
County Governments: Closely work with the County Departments of

Agriculture Universities and Research Institutions: KARI, South Eastern Kenya U
McGill,
IDFP
Area Sorghum,
Market Based farming systems : Cassava, Based Programs:
Ndengu and
Focusonadivision within each county
ALVs

Project partners in the IDFP
The Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI)
A key partner to AEFA, KARI has been instrumental in conducting applied research with a view to
improve Agricultural productivity in Arid and Semi Arid Areas. KARI, together with the National
Irrigation Board and the MoA, has carried out operational research in agronomy and crop protection and
this will come in handy in the implementation of this project.
In this project, KARI will help
 Promote sound agricultural research, technology generation and dissemination to ensure food
security through improved productivity and environmental conservation.
 Provide clean propagation materials i.e sorghum and ndengu seeds (specifically gaddam
sorghum) and cassava cuttings.
 Contribute, together with its partners, agricultural innovations and knowledge towards improved
livelihoods and commercialization of agriculture through increasing productivity and fostering
value-chains, measurable steps will be taken to ensure green growth while conserving the
environment.
South Eastern Kenya University (SEKU)
SEKU, through the Department of Dry-land Agriculture will play the role of contributing to the
improvement of production of crops. This Department will focus on research and outreach in the crop and
therefore contributes towards the achievement of our LEAP goals. SEKU will provide a strong science-
based foundation as well as technical and support trainings on how to produce/protect crops using
agricultural systems that are sustainable, humane, and beneficial to the rural environments.
McGill University
Through ASALs Agricultural research, McGill has been engaging a multi-disciplinary team of
researchers with farmers and other stakeholders in the semi-arid counties of Makueni, Machakos and
Kitui in the Eastern Province of Kenya in a participatory process of evaluating agricultural and livestock
practices. The purpose of the research is to facilitate adoption and scaling up of best practices for
enhancing the resilience of farming systems.

The role of McGill University will contribute to the development goal of enhanced food security through:
 a better understanding of food systems and drivers of food insecurity;

 an increased adoption and scaling up of appropriate agricultural practices;
 an increased household consumption of high-value traditional crops;
 enhanced participation of smallholder farmers into local and external input and output markets;
 a better informed policy development process that can contribute to the formulation of effective
sustainable food security policies and provide an enabling environment for agricultural
innovation.
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT)
JKUAT is currently setting trends in higher education research and innovation. Its role in this project will
be to foster agribusiness and market development interventions focusing on training and building capacity
in food processing entrepreneurs, advisory service providers and agricultural extension staff.
JKUAT will also provide competency based training for the farming systems actors, service providers and
business incubation. The partnership will be equally critical in enhancing the collaborations from the
piloting stage
County Departments of Agriculture, trade and cooperative development in Machakos, Makueni

and Kitui.
The county departments of agriculture will offer extra extension services in conjunction with our
extension officers. The county government of Makueni has already injected seventy million shillings for
setting up farmers cooperative societies to grow sorghum and MoU has already been entered with the East
African Breweries through Smart Logistics. AEFA will train the farmers in the following areas Group
dynamics, Leadership skills, Book keeping, Capacity building, good agronomical practices, cooperative
governance, value addition, branding and marketing. Concerted efforts have also been made and we are at
advanced stages of signing MoUs with all the three governments.

Smart Logistics, (Grain Builking Services)
Smart Logistics Solutions is a social private venture that employs a robust supply chain model that
interfaces smallholder farmers with large commercial markets through an Innovative Partnership that
leverages on mutual competences. SLS will provide logistical support from on-farm production through
delivery to the market. The lead raw material is Sorghum that will be delivered to East African Breweries
Limited.
Further, Smart Logistics will provide expertise on:
• Contract farming
• Farm support and best practises
• Distribution and network design
• Market evaluation
• Cost profiling
• farming system management
Infonet Biovision Kenya
As farmers carry out activities in the production-to-utilization continuum of various farming systems,
they encounter challenges posed by pests and weeds. It is estimated that pests cause, on average, yield
losses of about 30% but if left unchecked farmers can incur yield losses of up to 100%due to a single pest
or complex of pests.
Through infonet Biovision, specially trained plant health officers will be able to monitor the pest
abundance and ensure timely control before damage becomes of economic importance. This is a Crop
Health Programme that will ensure that Interactions between farmers and agricultural extension staff in
the course of carrying out other processes also lead to the farmers getting to know the importance of
accurate and timely diagnosis of problems affecting various crops.
Pest management takes into consideration aspects such as prevention, control and eradication. In so doing
cultural, biological, physical as well as chemical measures will be integrated in the most economical and
effective combinations. Infonet Biovision will also ensure that pest and weed management also

encompasses utilization of beneficial organisms for the benefit of farmers. These include, for example,
pollinators, natural enemies of the pests and soil ameliorators. Proper plant health will lead to the
attainment of required yields.
The Project Steering Committee:

The Project Steering Committee will steer the project to completion and will be formed entirely by
representatives of key organizations who are partners in the project, and/or who have particular expertise
to lend to the project. This committee will be helpful to the project coordinator and its role will be as
follows:
• Providing input to the development of the project, including the evaluation strategy;
• Providing advice on the budget;
• Defining and helping to achieve the project outcomes;
• Identifying the priorities in the project – where the most energy should be directed;
• Identifying potential risks;
• Monitoring risks;
• Monitoring timelines;
• Monitoring the quality of the project as it develops;
• Providing advice (and sometimes making decisions) about changes to the project as it develops.
Further, the Steering Committee will provide support, guidance and oversight of progress though the
Project Coordinator, and other members of the Project Team, will actually do the work implementing the
project. The committee will meet quarterly or more frequently if need be and the Project Coordinator,
being a member, will normally attend meetings to report on progress and answer any questions raised by
members.

The project steering committee will be composed of one representative from each partner as illustrated below
JKUAT
IDFP County SEKU KARI Smart Infornet Women
Govts Logistic Biovision groups
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Project Steering
Committee
Target Farming Systems
In an effort to Agribusiness and Environmental Focus , we further plan to narrow our scope to
the three farming systems of cassava, ndengu and sorghum within a division in each county and
later roll them out to the parts. We have observed that cassava and sorghum farming systems can
perform well in parts of Kitui and Makueni while ndengu can work well across the three
counties.
In the baseline survey, ndengu farming was found to be the most important horticultural activity
the project area. This kind of farming is however, faced with various difficulties especially on
how to ensure good agricultural practices, quality fruits, proper packaging and good local and
export markets. To this date, we have began a working partnership with Makueni Producers and
Processors Association which is working with six mango producer groups in Makueni. We are
also working with four ndengu groups within Machakos and three within Kitui County. Though
in the original plan we targeted a bigger number of farming systems, our intention is to still
target the same number of farmers but then ensure that they become more specialized to a few
and more effective farming systems. This will ensure that farmers’ resources and efforts are
channeled to a few successful crops.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION
General Monitoring and evaluation will be an ongoing activity throughout the project life.
Monitoring will be routinely done through meetings, monthly reports, check lists, surprise visits
and support supervision visits. These reports shall indicate the constraints and challenges in the
implementation and necessary adjustments that shall have been undertaken. Progress evaluation
will be done through use of monthly, quarterly reports, steering committee meetings, annual
reports, registry records, work plans indicating planned and accomplished activities, functional
accountability for project resources including equipment, facilities, assets and activities.
Currently, Agribusiness and Environmental Focus for Africais partnering with Mahiti (An Indian
Information and Technology Company) to develop a Management Information System (MIS)
popularly known as “our crop”. This system will help us track, monitor and assess our project
activities.
Monitoring and Evaluation will provide an outline to monitor and evaluate both the governance
and the programme of the organization. It will explain a general guideline, means, and processes
to assess the results, outcomes, and impacts of the interventions. It will facilitate the process
through which available resources are used in an effective and efficient manner. The process will
be participatory, flexible and integrated within the programme and posses an inbuilt capacity
building component. Derived from a two year framework, the yearly monitoring and evaluation
systems will facilitate the management in reviewing the progress against the planned targets and
help monitor the processes in achieving outputs leading towards the impacts on the community.
Further, AEFA will employ the services of an independent M&E officer.

Financial Management of the Project
Finances accruing to this project will be entered into the proper books of accounts when
received. Books of accounts will be audited regularly through external auditors. After auditing
the project accounts, the auditors will submit an audit report, which will satisfy the donors and
the stakeholders that correct and proper books of accounts have been be maintained.
Human R Awareness sessions Enhanced Knowledge Farmers participate in IDFP

Reduced poverty levels
Finance Material Trainings Owner/User trained
INPUTS ACTIVITIES OUTPUTS OUTCOMES IMPACTS
Monitoring Evaluation
Monitoring and Evaluation process Model
Programme Level Beneficiary Level Population Level

SUSTAINABILITY
Commercialization of Gadam Sorghum will explore the different markets for dryland crops and initiate
discussions with various partners on the possibility of procuring these it from the smallholder farmers in
the semi-arid areas. One of the partners is East Africa Breweries Limited (EABL) through Smart
Logistics. EABL is the largest malt beer maker in the region and is already using sorghum as an
ingredient in brewing.
The availability of drought resistant sorghum variety for brewing
Although KARI had developed several sorghum varieties over time none of these had been targeted to the
brewing industry as the main focus was to provide a higher yielding variety for food. As the varieties
produced were targeting semi-arid areas with their associated climatic conditions they had to be early
maturing and drought tolerant. In association with EABL several KARI sorghum varieties were tested and
Gadam variety was found suitable for making malt beer. Gadam is a short and early maturing sorghum
variety .It matures earlier than the other sorghum varieties and any of the maize varieties making it an
ideal variety for areas receiving low and unreliable rainfall. It has been reported to survive and produce
grain with approximately 200 mm of rainfall in the lower eastern area. The grain is high in starch, low in
protein and tannin making it suitable for malting. Through tests for enzymatic digestion of starch, Gadam
was found to have high levels of fermentable sugars.

County Government/Departments of agriculture/other stakeholders
KARI Farmer and resource mobilization

Sensitization
Awareness creation Production/marketing cells formation
Capacity building Capacity building
Provision of quality seed Assuring process success& farmers conflict resolution
Research in emerging issues
Commercial Villages
Smart Logistic Solutions
Provide land Finance institutions/BProvide land
Organizing market groups Provide resources Provide resources
Produce aggregation/ collection Assist in monitoring Assist in monitoring
Farmer payments Guarantee members for credit or or inputs and labour Guarantee members
Aggregating produce
Value addition of sorghum
East Africana breweries Ltd
Guranteed marketing continuity using

gadam sorghum grain
INTERGRATED DRYLAND FARMING PROJECT

Setting Up of Commercial Villages
The implementation of this project will be based on a business model that is highly centered and
customized to various market segments and farming systems that will offer viable opportunities for
smallholder farmers in the Lower Eastern region. The business model will keep ‘growing’ based on
experiential feedback drawn from farmers teams and partners. Under this sustainability model, farmer
groups will be designed and systematically graduated into commercialized competitive market-led
agricultural production units (commercial producer groups). The sustainability model will further be
supported by a business incubation and graduation pathway within our Community Resource &
Enterprise Development Centre that is efficiently organized to evolve farmer groups in social
administrative villages to commercial villages that meet the modern markets quantity and quality (Q&Q)
requirements through bulking and quality assurance.
Further, the commercial villages will be developed to meet these market demands competitively,
efficiently and sustainably and will be designed to integrate and upgrade existing systems. Commercial
Villages will incorporate 100 – 250 households depending on land sizes and the farming system adopted
by their members. The Commercial Villages will consist of smaller groups i.e the commercial producer
groups (CPG) made up of 20 to 30 households which will in turn be made up of the farmers’ groups.
The groups will have a leadership and governance structure that will evoke participation from the
commercial producer group level to the Commercial Village level. The leadership and committees will
enable the village to wholesomely incorporate various aspects in the departments namely; Production and
Natural Resources Management (NRM), Finance, Marketing & Value Addition, Village Social Capital
and Youth Integration.
Sustainability in Land use
Dryland agriculture is water-limited; thus, improvements will come about primarily by improving the
efficiency of water use. Such an improvement will occur that converts units of rainfall into units of
economic yield. It turns out that many of the measures devised to protect the soil from erosion (discussed
elsewhere in this proposal) also contribute to increases in rainfall efficiency. One major improvement,
will be the use of conservation tillage practices both in annual and perennial crops. Direct drilling of
cereals leaving crop residues on the soil surface will reduce runoff drastically by increasing retention time
and the soil infiltration rate. The shift to conservation tillage practices will require modification of the
planting mechanisms and changes in weed control and in the fertilization practices.

Cooperatives and sustainability
Farmers’ groups, farmers’ cooperatives and commodity associations, as well as rural finance institutions,
will play a key role in the development and sustainability of efficient farming systems. For successful
sustainability, six main areas of intervention will be addressed by the different stakeholders in rural
development and in the development of agricultural cooperatives: These are: Organizational and business
development; - Gender equality; - Market information and analysis; - Sustainable agricultural production
and climate change; - Market access and sales; - Financial services; - Policy development and advocacy.
The Makueni County government has already set aside a substantial amount of resources to help set up
cooperatives for sorghum farmers in the region.

ACROSS THE BOARD INTERVENTIONS
The project will undertake a number of actions which will transverse through the selected
farming systems. These are presented in the following discussions.
1. Trainings
The project is largely a knowledge and capacity transfer project which will involve a lot of
guidance in a holistic manner. The training will seek out to empower the target beneficiaries with
information, skills and technical knowhow of on how to advance various stages of the selected
farming systems in order to garner maximum benefits. Women issues will be incorporated into
these training sessions.
As part of training, the IDFP will lay green growth strategies that will be aimed at helping
economies and societies to become more resilient as they work to meet demands for food
production, energy and water utilization. Organic farming trainings and ASAL irrigation farming
will be some of activities farmers will be trained on.
Agriculture is a major user of water resources and also contributes to water pollution from excess
nutrients, pesticides and other pollutants. Following scarcity of water in ASAL areas (as the case
for better part of our project area) sustainable management of water in agriculture is critical to
increase agricultural production as well as ensure water is shared with other users while
maintaining the environmental and social benefits of water systems. In order, to promote green
growth farming IDFP will introduce an innovative farming solution for project area and other
similar ASAL areas. This will be a drip irrigation kit which is affordable and requires little water
to irrigate many crops.
After the expected huge agricultural produce the farmers will be trained on value addition as
outlined earlier in this report. Various more valuable products will be generated from raw farm
produce and thereby find market from the “Village Mart” which is the AEFA’s marketing wing.

This will provide vast market for green goods and services hence offering the population in the
project area dual benefit of prosperity and job creation.
The project will also invest trainings on group dynamics to ensure the marketing associations are
able to handle tensions that arise in such groups due to problems such as lack of differentiation,
fair pricing, quality uniformity, working capital constraints, administrative overheads in addition
to task delegation and supervision of professional staff. Group Dynamics will involve group
formations, record keeping, savings, attendance, minute writing as well as problem solving. The
project will support the addressing of threats to groups cohesion to ensure micro and small scale
farmers reap the benefits of economies of scale.
2. Market Analysis
The project will help farmers through associations to get timely access to consistent markets for
their produce. There is an unexploited market for cereals and other products which will be
produced under the project. One of the key markets for the farm produce will be shops and
supermarket chains in the area.
The IDFP will ensure Village Mart and other collective marketing units such as societies work
closely to provide competitive market for both value added farm produce and raw farm produce.

EXPECTED OUTCOME & IMPACT
OUTCOME
Increased farm produce will ensure that families not only get enough food but also a surplus for
sale. This will help in improving the livelihoods of the communities in the Eastern region. IDFP
will serve as a source of employment for the women who are the major bread winners in this
region. With augmented farming activity and income levels in the region, there will be less rural
to urban migration. As such, the women will embark on enterprise development and self-
employment through these new agricultural activities especially through increased tomato, green
gram, watermelon, sorghum, millet, poultry, cassava and beekeeping.
The project targets the following outcomes
 To update farming database for farmers doing the three crops (ndengu, Cassava and Sorghum) in
the entire project area for future planning and evaluation.
 To promote green growth farming to 10,000 farmers through introduction of innovative

drip kit irrigation, wind irrigation and organic farming practices thus ensuring natural
undisturbed ecosystems. Solar lamps will also be introduced to farmers as an attempt to
promote the use of green energy in the project area which is cheap and environmental
friendly.
 To train 10,000 micro and small scale farmers on better farming methods, market
research, value addition and branding with 85% of them being women and 10% being
youth. This will cover cassava farming, sorghum & millet, and ndengu farming.
 To maintain linkages and research partnerships with the South East University Colleges
of the Nairobi University in Kitui and Makueni, Jomo Kenyatta University and continue
our partnership with the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute.
 To continue liaising with agricultural input suppliers including Amiran, Kenya Seed
Company and other farm input supliers

 To plan and facilitate 8 literary seminars with financial institutions like Cooperative
Bank, Kenya Women Finance Trust, K-Rep, Faulu, Family and Equity Banks for the
10,000 farmers by the end of the 3 years
 To create at least 2500 jobs directly to training and field officers, distributors, retailers
and sales people.
 To map out organizations and other players with whom the IDFP will liaise with in order
to improve and enrich the farming system. Our target will be cooperatives, government
agencies, finance institutions, large scale buyers and supermarkets.
 To promote and encourage diversity in farming so as to enhance food security and to

facilitate the formation of an umbrella marketing cooperative and production and
marketing units. The cooperative, Collective Marketing Unit has been linked to kikima
farmers cooperative and will also be linked to Makueni producers and processors, in
order for the farmers to gain access to better prices.
 Create and maintain linkages with supermarket chains and small retail shops in the
region. We have so far formed linkages with Ngooni Hyper, Kieti Kamba Stores, Peter
Mulei supermarkets, and Naivas Supermarkets.
 To conduct an exit survey so as to bring out the impact of the project interventions.
 To conduct an evaluation assessment of the implications of the project interventions at

the end of the year.
 To prepare a summary documentary detailing the success and challenges of the project
from the beginning to completion.

Impact
The IDFP has an express impact on women as they form a bigger part of subsistence farmers in
the region and are the main beneficiaries. The core goals of this project i.e self reliance,
increased farm produce, better marketing, improved local capacity and diversification in farming
will guide women into the world of cash crop farming and create streams of income for them.
When women have been trained, there will be more confidence and awareness that will be
essential in ensuring that they would now be able to make more informed decisions.
Resources such as land, finances and technology will be put into much better use during the
project lifetime and thereafter. Further, increased income in the community will accelerate
women representation and participation in decision making both at family level, community
level and national level. Women will be more empowered to participate in leadership and
therefore take control of their own destiny. The more women there will be in elective posts the
better the chances of their priorities being enacted and reflected in development agendas.
The partaking of target groups at the diverse levels of project implementation will reinforce the
members’ ability to plan, make decisions and learn to make use of the resources at their disposal.
This will therefore improve internal governance, organization and management.
The project will have a great impact on the livelihoods of family members hosted by the target
beneficiaries of this project. There will be surety of decent and nutritious meals due to the ease of
availability of farm produce. The increase of income to the target beneficiaries will also
transform their lives into better living standards for other family members and therefore create
cohesiveness in the society.
Agribusiness and Environmental Focus for Africa will on the other hand strengthen its
management and implementation aspects of community development, as well as the capacity to
deliver while undertaking larger community initiatives. Our capabilities will be improved in the
following areas: project management, financial management, marketing, business and product
development.
Further expected impact will be:

• Uptake of agronomic practices
• Greater Domestic and export markets
• Increased yields
Logic frame
OVERALL INDICATORS MEANS OF ASSUMPTIONS

GOAL VERITICATION
To upscale a No. of farmers Records, receipts, Good AEFA-

community earning from this delivery notes, Donor working
based project project bank statements relations
that will
generate Profit margins Project reports Good political
economic at household climate
level Government
income for statistics, surveys, Favorable climatic
thousands of Average audits conditions
rural farmers household income
Farmers’
commitment
OBJECTIVES INDICATORS MEANS OF RESULTS ACTIVITIES

VERITICATION
Research No. of Participants Reports Draft and final Problem

Surveys reports statement &
6 research studies Contacting site
participants Recommendations identification
At least 10
researchers from Research studies Man hours Sample
research spend in the selection
institutions fields
Preparation of
research
instruments
data
collection,

compiling and
analysis
Promote No. of farmers Household records Production levels Registration
Ndengu involved in within project of households
farming ndengu farming No. of gardens locations and their
(4,000 farmers) expansion rates Promote
Weight of ndengu
seedlings/fertilizer from beginning to
Area coverage of the end of the farming
mango farms project.
Surveys Liaise with
Training reports ministry of
agriculture for
extension
services
Seedlings
distribution
Post-harvest
trainings
Promote open No. of Household records Production levels Registration

field farming household within project of households
for sorghum involved (10,000 No. of gardens locations and their
farmers) expansion rates Promote farm
Weight of tree planting
seedlings/fertilizer from beginning to
10,000 farmers the end of the
trained in sorghum Surveys Liaise with
project. ministry of
organic farming
agriculture for
Training reports
Number of extension
gardens services
established
Propagation
trainings
Seed
distribution
Post harvest
trainings
Promote Cassava 4000 farmers Surveys/reports Farmers records Analysis of

Farming doing organic existing
cassava farming Increased incomes Receipts market trends
of at least 10,000
Value added farmers Delivery notes Market survey
cassava products & linkage

in the local through
markets e.g. Village
cassava flour, Market
crisps, cassava
cocoa Research and
development
of value
addition
Promotion of Over 6000 Surveys/reports Farmers records Analysis of

the ALVs farmers doing existing
Value Chain organic ALVs Increased incomes Receipts market trends
of at least 10,000
Value added ALV farmers Delivery notes Market survey
products in the & linkage
local markets e.g. through
Village
Market
Research and
development
of value
addition
Value addition Number of Sales records 6000 farmers Training

for ndengu, products engaged in value farmers,
cassava and manufactured Reports addition
sorghum Buying
Quantities of 40% reduction in packaging
products losses associated machines,
manufactures with excess
production after Packaging
harvesting Establishment
of Village
Mart
Capacity No. of awareness Training records 10,000 famers Preparation of

building forums with ndengu training
Training/workshop farms, sorghum
Over 10,000 attendance lists and cassava Hiring
brochures/booklets
Brochures/booklets 10,000 farmers of venues
60 workshops trained on
Records/reports Vetting of
Over 10,000 reduction of post trainers
farmers equipped harvest losses
with knowledge Develop
market

on financial networks
literacy
Awareness
Train 10,000 creation on
farmers on marketing
productive lands opportunities
Field visits.
To develop No. of outlets for Analysis reports At least 3 large Analysis of

market linkages farm produce supermarket existing
Survey reports chains selling market trends
No. of new
customers Sales records Fully functional Market survey
identified marketing wing & linkage
Research reports
“The Village
Number of reports Mart”for value Research and
submitted added products development
of value
At least 30 addition
medium sized chains
shops secured for
each of the
products.
Provision of 30 nurseries for Survey reports 30 nurseries Identify ideal
seedlings and protective forest site
establishments of stands and cassava Sales records
nurseries. seedlings Plant
Research reports seedlings
2,000,000
seedlings for
protective forest
stands and
4,000,000 by
the end of the
year.
Gender No. of awareness Training records Over 6000 Preparation of
Mainstreaming forums women training
Training/workshop knowledgeable on
Over 6,000 attendance lists organic ndengu, Hiring
farmers equipped cassava &
with knowledge Brochures/booklets of venues
sorghum farming
on gender Records/reports Develop
equality. 6000 women market
farmers well networks
trained on value
addition of
ndengu, cassava & Building
sorghum produce capacity,
organization,
sensitization
and access to
finance.
Field visits.


Intergrated Dryland Farming Project Final

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INTEGRATED DRY-LAND FARMING PROJECT

AGRIBUSINESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL FOCUS FOR AFRICA

Agribusiness and Environmental Focus : IDFP 2 | P a g e

INTRODUCTION - WHO WE ARE............................................................................................................................................................................5

IDFP, CLIMATE CHANGE & PRODUCTIVE LANDSCAPES......................................................................................... 9

TARGET GROUP AND AREA................................................................................................................................ 23

ACTIVITIES & DEVELOPMENT PLAN................................................................................................................... 33

Agribusiness and Environmental Focus : IDFP 3 | P a g e

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF THE PROJECT......................................................................................................................................................70

ACROSS THE BOARD INTERVENTIONS................................................................................................................ 75

PROPOSED ESTIMATED COST FOR TWO YEARS...........................................................................................ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

Agribusiness and Environmental Focus : IDFP 4 | P a g e

Introduction - Who we are

Mission and vision

Our vision is “to see a self sustaining society”.

Empower the communities towards attaining self sustenance.

Agribusiness and Environmental Focus : IDFP 5 | P a g e

Agribusiness and Environmental Focus : IDFP 6 | P a g e

Agribusiness and Environmental Focus : IDFP 7 | P a g e

PARTNER POSITION NATURE OF COLLABORATION

Mumbuni, Katoloni CBOs Associate Project Partnering & Implementation

Humanitarian International Services Group Donor Funds

HIVOs Donor Funds and Technical Assistance

Smart Logistics Limited Associate Market linkage (cereals & grains)

Kenya Agricultural Research Institute Associate Knowledge and ASAL Research

USAID Donor Funds and Technical Assistance

JKUAT/SEKU Associate Knowledge and Research

McGill University Associate Knowledge and Research

Natural Capital Services Associate Climate Change Mitigation

Infonet Bio-vision Associate Plant health research

Ministries of Agriculture, water and Associate Network and Technical Assistance

Agribusiness and Environmental Focus : IDFP 8 | P a g e

The Challenge for Smallholders

Some of the challenges and consequences of climate change include:

 Shrinking of natural resources

 Loss of livelihoods forcing affected people to migrate.

 Increase in soil erosion due to deforestation and lack of vegetation cover

 Constraints of production in rainfed areas.

Agribusiness and Environmental Focus : IDFP 9 | P a g e

Overview of Green Growth

Agribusiness and Environmental Focus : IDFP 10 | P a g

Re-greening the land

Revitalizing local economies

Agribusiness and Environmental Focus : IDFP 11 | P a g

In consultation with the relevant lead agencies we shall promote

Agribusiness and Environmental Focus : IDFP 12 | P a g

Furrow dyking/modern contour furrows

Agribusiness and Environmental Focus : IDFP 13 | P a g

Soil and rain water conservation techniques

Timely planting of crops

Agribusiness and Environmental Focus : IDFP 14 | P a g

Efficient crops and cropping systems

Agribusiness and Environmental Focus : IDFP 15 | P a g

Alternate Land use Systems

Despite evolving a number of production technologies, arable cropping in drylands continues to

Agribusiness and Environmental Focus : IDFP 16 | P a g

Integration of the technologies through watershed approaches

Farming system approach

Agribusiness and Environmental Focus : IDFP 17 | P a g

 PRA and assessment of socio-economic conditions of people.

Innovative Agricultural Approaches in our New Strategy

Protective Forest Stands (PFS)