www.greenpeace.org/africa/en/c... Farmers in Kenya are dealing with the challenges created by a changing climate by making the switch to ecological farming.
*Agro-ecology agendas are trapping African farmers in poverty* New study reveals: "That’s the finding of the first continent-wide meta-analysis of conservation agriculture experiments in Africa, and it threatens to completely up-end the dominant paradigm around agro-ecology. In recent years, agro-ecology has come to be seen as a virtual panacea in sub-Saharan Africa. Aid agencies, churches, development NGOs and United Nations agencies all now tie their support for resource-poor farmers to an explicitly agro-ecological agenda. NGOs are keen to offer anecdotal evidence for how these approaches can help smallholder farmers in Africa. Yet scientifically rigorous empirical evidence for the benefits of agro-ecology - also termed “conservation agriculture” - has so far been lacking. Until now, with the publication of a paper titled “Limits of conservation agriculture to overcome low crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa” in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Food. Scientists, who analyzed 933 observations across 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa comparing conservation agriculture with conventional cropping, found that agro-ecological approaches do not substantially improve productivity and do not therefore help address the food insecurity of smallholder farmers. This is not because conventional tillage-based farming is better than conservation agriculture - in fact, as these results show, they are equally bad - but because the advocates for agro-ecology also tend push an ideological agenda that rejects scientific innovations such as biotechnology, hybrid seeds, mechanization, irrigation and other tools that might more reliably increase productivity for smallholder farmers in Africa. The study authors, led by Marc Corbeels, a specialist in sustainable intensification based at CIMMYT in Nairobi, Kenya, found that conservation agriculture did not improve yields in cotton, cowpea, rice, sorghum or soybean. Maize yields did show a 4 percent increase, but only if glyphosate pre-emergence herbicide treatments were applied, something which is strictly forbidden by agro-ecology advocates. In practice therefore, agro-ecology is likely to have no benefits at all to most farmers in Africa. In fact, it could even have negative effects. This is primarily because soil improvements from conservation agriculture require the use of crop residues as mulches. In dry conditions these can help retain moisture in the ground by reducing evaporation. However, crop residues are much more valuable to smallholder farmers as fodder for cattle and other livestock animals, which produce meat, milk and manure and are therefore much more important for safeguarding food security than a slight increase in maize yield. In the arid conditions of much of sub-Saharan Africa, there is simply no spare biomass to use in conservation agriculture. This is not to say that no-till systems have no benefits anywhere in the world. In fact, reduced or conservation tillage approaches have been widely adopted across North and South America, where they help to reduce soil erosion, conserve moisture and sequester carbon. Indeed, most of the carbon benefits of genetically modified crops - which removed 24 millon tonnes of CO2 in 2016 - arise because herbicide tolerance traits allow farmers to adopt no-till practices. geneticliteracyproject.org/2020/08/03/viewpoint-agro-ecology-agendas-are-trapping-african-farmers-in-poverty/
many people should be doing this...way to go...
I love this these people need more money , land and help to push the eco farming🌴🍒
Kenyans depend on agriculture so they must be ready to face climatic changes by adapting new practises.
WOW,! such a resourceful video
I really appreciate these farmers & wish them good progress.
Great video, and great story!
We are looking for suppliers of sisal fiber plaster for import to Morocco, please give me recommendations with contacts
❤
Kenya needs irrigation systems for farming in rural areas
Señora de madrugada
Wow - another incredible video. Thank you.
nice
Hello everybody , I love Kenya farming, I'm a natural farming research fellow, u have any doubts, and suggestions , I explained clearly TQ
Hello Ram Mohan, do you have email or WhatsApp we can have direct access to?
Double digging is eco-destructive. Use mulch and manures and let the earthworms dig
Who says there are earthworms in kenya?
*Agro-ecology agendas are trapping African farmers in poverty* New study reveals:
"That’s the finding of the first continent-wide meta-analysis of conservation agriculture experiments in Africa, and it threatens to completely up-end the dominant paradigm around agro-ecology.
In recent years, agro-ecology has come to be seen as a virtual panacea in sub-Saharan Africa. Aid agencies, churches, development NGOs and United Nations agencies all now tie their support for resource-poor farmers to an explicitly agro-ecological agenda.
NGOs are keen to offer anecdotal evidence for how these approaches can help smallholder farmers in Africa. Yet scientifically rigorous empirical evidence for the benefits of agro-ecology - also termed “conservation agriculture” - has so far been lacking.
Until now, with the publication of a paper titled “Limits of conservation agriculture to overcome low crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa” in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Food.
Scientists, who analyzed 933 observations across 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa comparing conservation agriculture with conventional cropping, found that agro-ecological approaches do not substantially improve productivity and do not therefore help address the food insecurity of smallholder farmers.
This is not because conventional tillage-based farming is better than conservation agriculture - in fact, as these results show, they are equally bad - but because the advocates for agro-ecology also tend push an ideological agenda that rejects scientific innovations such as biotechnology, hybrid seeds, mechanization, irrigation and other tools that might more reliably increase productivity for smallholder farmers in Africa.
The study authors, led by Marc Corbeels, a specialist in sustainable intensification based at CIMMYT in Nairobi, Kenya, found that conservation agriculture did not improve yields in cotton, cowpea, rice, sorghum or soybean. Maize yields did show a 4 percent increase, but only if glyphosate pre-emergence herbicide treatments were applied, something which is strictly forbidden by agro-ecology advocates.
In practice therefore, agro-ecology is likely to have no benefits at all to most farmers in Africa.
In fact, it could even have negative effects. This is primarily because soil improvements from conservation agriculture require the use of crop residues as mulches. In dry conditions these can help retain moisture in the ground by reducing evaporation. However, crop residues are much more valuable to smallholder farmers as fodder for cattle and other livestock animals, which produce meat, milk and manure and are therefore much more important for safeguarding food security than a slight increase in maize yield. In the arid conditions of much of sub-Saharan Africa, there is simply no spare biomass to use in conservation agriculture.
This is not to say that no-till systems have no benefits anywhere in the world. In fact, reduced or conservation tillage approaches have been widely adopted across North and South America, where they help to reduce soil erosion, conserve moisture and sequester carbon. Indeed, most of the carbon benefits of genetically modified crops - which removed 24 millon tonnes of CO2 in 2016 - arise because herbicide tolerance traits allow farmers to adopt no-till practices.
geneticliteracyproject.org/2020/08/03/viewpoint-agro-ecology-agendas-are-trapping-african-farmers-in-poverty/