The Need
According to Kenya Demographics profile, 2018, 73% of the Kenyan population live in the rural areas. Whereas Kenya is ranked high in terms of access to financial services, the rural community which ekes out a living on farming, with very little rain every three or four years, still poses a challenge to such a claim. While many Kenyans have access to mobile money transfers on their phones, they may have little or no access to formal financial services.
The rural population in Kenya is mostly dependent on agriculture for sustenance. In the ASAL areas, people must wait four to five years for a good harvest. Rainfall is often poorly distributed in space and time and it is mostly inadequate resulting to crop failures and food insecurity. It is not uncommon for a rural household to survive on one meal per day. Evidently there is over reliance on rain-fed agriculture hence the need for improved agricultural practices such as Conservation Agriculture.
Conservation agriculture (CA) is highly recommended in arid and semi arid areas as a way of increasing food production. Fadhili trains farmers on CA principles which include minimum tillage and soil disturbance, permanent soil cover with crop residues and live mulches, crop rotation and intercropping which enhances food yields and availability of fodder.