Forestry Training & Finance for 800 Farms in Kenya

INTRODUCTION

Greetings from Drylands Natural Resources Centre (DNRC) family. We hope your year is off to a good start. DNRC fraternity are all doing great and happy to once again share quarterly report. Drylands Natural Resources Centre has endeavoured to achieve her goals of towards community sustainability through environmental regeneration, economic development and community regeneration over the years since inception in 2007. So far, over 900 smallholder farmers and 20 schools in the drylands of Kenya are working with DNRC. They continue to be continue to be trained through DNRC on different aspects of permaculture / agro ecology and drylands Natural Resources management. Over the years, many diverse and multipurpose trees have been planted and majority grown to maturity and they continue to provide ecosystem services and microclimate to the local communities we work with. Some trees are harvested for their economic goods such as fruits and thus the farmers are slowly starting to build their sustainable livelihoods. Through our joint trainings and communal common labour, the social fabric of the community is more strong and the community is well organized and thus able to understand their challenges better and continue to address them sustainably. DNRC is also keen on promoting regenerative enterprises stemming from  trees we continue to grow. We say thank you so much for your continued support and partnership as we journey towards achieving our dreams. During this reporting quarter, it was our rainy season (October-December rains) so our core activity was planting of trees which was being managed in our major nursery. We were also busy mainly on training farmers on how to plant, issuing them with tree saplings to plant during the rainy season and following up to make sure they plant. Below are detailed activities over the reporting quarter.

TREEE ISSUANCE TO THE FARMERS AND SCHOOLS

During this reporting period, our major activity among others was to issue tree seedlings to the farmers and schools to plant in their farms. Due to the good rains, thanks to Elnino phenomenon, we managed to issue for planting over 60,000 tree seedlings. Majority of the tree species included: Melia vonkensii, Eucalyptus camandulenses, Gravelia rubosta, Senna siemea, Moringa oleifera, Avocado, Mangoes, Balanities egyptica, Guavas, Croton megalocupus, Syzigium guminii, Vanguaria, Snot apple, pawpaw, Tamaridus indica, pomegranade, Acacia xanthopolea,  Cypress, Casurina, Banana Passion, sweet yellow passion, Purple passion, luceana, Cashew nuts, Senna spectabilis,Delbergia, Mulberry, Lemon, Vitex payos, k- apple, Taminalia brownii among others..

ACTUAL TREE PLANTING

Once the farmers and the schools were issued with tree seedlings, DNRC staff journeyed with them to backstop and guide them on how to plant. Over 405 and 20 schools were able to plant over 60,000 trees. Before the trees are planted, DNRC train and outreach personnel had previously made sure the farmers had the holes ready for planting. They also collect records on how many each beneficiary is able to plant and this formed the basis for how many seedlings to issue to each farmer and school.

CHALLENGE

Transport of the seedlings to the farmers’ lands and schools was the major challenge. This is because DNRC has only one double cabin vehicle and was a big challenge to transport over 60,000 seedlings during the rainy season. We continue to appeal for canter for transportation as we continue to expand.

FOCUS FOR THE NEXT QUARTER

• Tree propagation to meet our set target of 100,000 seedlings by end of 2024
• General tree nursery management
• Preparing more tree planting during this coming March-April rains
• Continue training and farmers follow ups

INTRODUCTION

Greetings from Drylands Natural Resources Centre (DNRC) family, we are happy to once again share our progress report with us. Drylands Natural Resources Centre has endeavoured to achieve her goals towards community sustainability through environmental regeneration, economic development and community regeneration over the years. So far, over 800 farmers and 18 schools have been mobilized and they continue to be trained through DNRC on different aspects of permaculture / agro ecology ranging from; woodlots, food forests, drylands strategies etc.  Over the years, planted trees have grown to maturity and they continue to give eco system services and some are harvested for their economic value thus farmers slowly starting to build their income. DNRC is also keen on promoting indigenous tree species since they serve better in this time of climate change challenges. We can only say thank you so much for your continued support which has played a role towards this achievement. Through our intense trainings and community lead activities, the social fabric of the community is more strong and the community is well organized and thus able to understand their challenges better and continue to address them accordingly.

This being the very last quarter of the year in terms of tree propagation, we majorly embarked on massive diverse seedlings propagation in our tree nursery so as to meet our target of 100,000 diverse tree seedlings. We were also busy recruiting and training especially new farmers on woodlot establishment as well as doing individual farmer follow ups to monitor their readiness as we expect elevated October-December rains. There is prediction of Elnino this season.

Below are detailed activities over the reporting quarter.

DNRC TREE NURSERY

During this reporting period, our major activities in the nursery included: potting, transplanting, watering, root pruning and Integrated Pest Management (IPM).  So far a total of 34 different tree species have been propagated and they include; Melia vonkensii, Eucalyptus camandulenses, Gravelia rubosta, Senna siemea, Moringa oleifera, Avocado, Mangoes, Balanities egyptica, Guavas, Croton megalocupus, Syzigium guminii, Vanguaria, Snot apple, pawpaw, Tamaridus indica, pomegranade, Acacia xanthopolea,  Cypress, Casurina, Banana Passion, sweet yellow passion, Purple passion, luceana, Cashew nuts, Senna spectabilis,Delbergia, Mulberry, Lemon, Vitex payos, k- apple, Taminalia brownie e.t.c

Currently a total of 109, 997 of the above diverse seedlings have been propagated and they continue to be taken care of in the nursery awaiting issuance immediately the rains start this month.

DNRC TRAINING AND OUTREACH PROGRAM

During the reporting quarter, our training and outreach personnel were involved in training our groups majorly focusing on the new farmers as they orientate them on woodlot establishment. A total of 76 new farmers have been mobilized and recruited to join DNRC. They will continue getting trainings and especially hole preparations just before the onset of the rains.

During the reporting quarter other activities like summit have continued to take place in preparation of the end of year farmers get together party which is scheduled for early December 2023.

Through DNRC, farmers also had the seed fair activity with the aim of getting more of our indigenous seeds to multiply since they are resistance to the issues related to climate change. A total of 60 farmers brought different indigenous seeds which were received , labelled and persevered through indigenous methods like: use of Ash, hot pepper, cow dug and stored in calabashes to prevent them from light.

CHALLENGES

This being our driest period of the year, we had a major challenge of water for the tree nursery since DNRC has no permanent water source. We continue to appeal for a borehole.

FOCUS FOR THE NEXT QUARTER

• General tree nursery management before the rains
• Transplanting of more seedlings in the seedbeds.
• Continue training and farmers follow ups
• Seedling issuance to the farmers