Machakos — For a couple that has weathered the dual tests of early retirement and repeated crop failures, it might have seemed an impossible dream to former primary-school teacher Philip Ngolania and his farmer wife that their three quarters of an acre farm could one day yield enough staple food to last an entire season.

But a visit to the local office of the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) early this year ushered in a fresh beginning for the 62-year-old father of four grown sons, whose land barely produced enough food for the family’s daily meals in this drought-parched area east of the capital, Nairobi. Since that visit, he says, the family’s prospects have improved dramatically.

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Agriculture takes the biggest chunk of money disbursed to beneficiaries under the Women Enterprise Fund programme.

A report by the Gender Ministry on the fund has revealed that women commit 80 per cent of the money advanced to them to livestock keeping, farming and bee keeping, among others.

By December 31, 2011, Sh343.6 million had been disbursed with financial intermediaries loaning out 202.2 million and another Sh141.4 million distributed through the constituency women enterprise scheme to “women groups or chamas.”

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Tea farmers are set to benefit from improved prices, due to a shortage occasioned by the frost situation in many parts of the country.

Kenya Tea Development Authority Zone IV manager Chege Karuba said many parts of the country had been hit by the phenomenon and would experience low produce.

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About 300,000 farmers in remote regions stand to benefit from more than 150 livestock service centres being constructed by a franchise.

Sidai Africa Limited, a newly established social enterprise owned by Farm Africa, a UK-based charity organisation, is seeking to fill the gap left when the Government withdrew extension services due to tight budget.

Managing director Anthony Wainaina said Sidai has built 16 franchises in North Rift, North Eastern, Kajiado, Narok and Garissa. “We should have opened more than 150 franchises in the country in the next three years,” he said. The project is estimated at Sh500 million.

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The Rome-based Global Crop Diversity Trust and the International Potato Center (CIP) in Peru are finalizing a US$1 million five-year renewable grant to support, maintain, conserve and make available sweet potato varieties. CIP describes the sweet potato as a crop that grows in marginal conditions, requiring little labor and chemical fertilizers. It is a cheap, nutritious solution for developing countries needing to grow more food on less area for rapidly multiplying populations. It also provides inexpensive, high-protein fodder for animals.

Sweet potatoes, particularly varieties with purple-fleshed roots are a rich source of compounds called Anthocyanins, which have medicinal value as Anti-oxidants and Cancer Preventing agents. More research is being done about it. But even if it is a major food security crop and can be a commercial crop, it has had little funding for research and development compared to other major staples. However, its contribution to food and nutrition security in the developing world is increasingly being recognized.

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