The government has been challenged to provide an enabling environment for the promotion and adoption of agroecology in a bid to enhance food safety and market access.
This is primarily by providing proper legal policies and strategies that support and allow the adoption and promotion of agroecology.
Experts say agroecology involves the adoption of various agricultural practices which include the use of non-synthetic farm inputs, farmer-managed seed systems, water harvesting and management, and farm waste recycling among others.
Vihiga County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Agriculture, Nicholas Kitungulu said there was a need to seek ways of producing food in a climate-friendly manner because agriculture is currently contributing to approximately 25 percent of greenhouse gases.
He was speaking in Nakuru, while officially opening a meeting of stakeholders developing an agro-ecology policy for Vihiga County.
The meeting brought together Vihiga County officials from different departments, civil societies, academia and research institutions.
“In Vihiga, the average farm size is less than 1 acre with less than 1,000 being large-scale farmers yet, the population keeps rising, pushing up demand for food,” said the CECM
He added that the situation called for diversification in production and maximum utilisation of the little space available.
Increasing population resulting in land fragmentation, land degradation, declining soil fertility, climate change and shortage of farm inputs emerged as some of the challenges facing production in Vihiga.
“We may be producing food but is it going to help our people,” posed Kitungulu, adding that although the use of synthetic agrochemicals was often linked with high production, such produce is linked to diseases and ends up affecting human health which eventually leads to financial strains.
The stakeholders called for the county governments to push for agroecology agenda by employing a multi-stakeholder approach.
“Education is partly devolved and can easily become an entry point by training young children on agroecological practices right from nursery school,” said Mary Irungu, the advocacy Manager at Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Kenya.
PELUM Kenya is a network of grassroots organisations that promote agricultural practices and principles among farming and pastoralist communities.
If Vihiga gets the agroecology policy, it will become the second after Muranga, whose policy and act were launched last year.
According to Irungu, Muranga’s launch has put the county at a place where products such as avocado and coffee can now be produced agro-ecologically and within a legal framework controlling the same.
She said with the policy in place, farmers can push for better prices for their produce especially at a time when most consumers prefer organically-produced produce amid increasing cases of lifestyle diseases such as cancer.
“Counties should identify their niche, in the case of Murang’a there is coffee and avocado, for Vihiga, the focus is mainly on African leafy vegetables whose market cuts across the country and beyond,” said Irungu.
Being a peri-urban county, Vihiga is characterized by a high population density and small farm sizes with 90 percent of residents depending on agriculture.
“With the worrying trend of land fragmentation, agricultural production has to employ nature positive solutions for a sustainable food system for Vihiga,” said Lillian Aluso, a Research Associate at The Alliance Bioversity and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).
Aluso noted that it was necessary to identify a niche’ with regards to crops grown in the county such as African leafy vegetables to ensure food and nutrition security as well as improved livelihoods for communities.
“A legal framework such as the agro ecology policy which is in the pipeline is thus not only timely, but also relevant for Vihiga,” she added.
Martin Oulu, an Agriculture Economics lecturer at University of Nairobi said agro ecology has been identified as one of the strategies to transform the agriculture and food systems in Kenya.
He called for development of legal frameworks that support agro-ecology saying this would come in handy towards a food-secure and healthy nation.
Oulu called for allocation of resources and budget towards supporting and up scaling of agro-ecology.
County Director in charge of crops, Reuben Chumba said agro-ecology will adequately address challenges such as increasing population, rural-urban migration, poverty, declining soil fertility and lack of awareness on alternative diversification of crop or farm enterprises
He observed that agro-ecology would provide decent work opportunities for youth and women through digitalisation of extension services, mapping and establishment of county repository of training materials and documentaries.