Empower 175 students for food security in Kenya

We are happy as we do this report since in previous report we were very worried due to delayed rains in most parts of the country.   As previously reported, the rains had started sometimes in April 2019 and farmers were happy as this continued and they were able to plant their crops after a long wait.  The farms are now very green with a lot of crops doing great.  Our youth politics were excited to report back to school after April holiday and they immediately started working on their gardens.  We supported them with seeds and planting materials as earlier reported and they were very happy.  Their farms are looking nice with vegetables and other crops growing well.  Most of them are now harvesting vegetables and other short term crops like peas.  They are very excited also to have green vegetables in their meals and some of them are even selling surplus as they normally do when they have them in plenty for income generation.  In the previous report, we had reported that we will discuss the issue of rain water harvesting with the schools management to take advantage of the long rains.  Discussion was done in all polytechnics and the management liked the idea of doing simple rain water harvesting but most of them said they were not in a position to start due to the very many challenges they had.  They told us since it was very dry in the previous months, most parents were not able to pay school fees for their children in time hence very difficult moments for the schools to cater for the schools basic needs.  Most parents did not pay school fees for their children in first term and they had promised to clear fees balances once they start selling their farm produce.   There were some polytechnics who had installed simple water harvesting structures previously and we encouraged them to improve them for more benefits.  Our youth students were eager to learn on how they could install these structures in their school but unfortunately this was not possible this time round. The schools management promised to have meetings with parents to discuss how they can actualize this and improve the situation we will work with them once they start the process.  We are happy that our students are still interested in agribusiness and they are ready to learn and gain more skills and knowledge.  We appreciate the support given, thank you very much.

The year 2019 started very well but as it grows older, it surprised many Kenyans due to strange climatic condition.  It has been extremely dry in most parts of the country including Molo in Nakuru County where a lot of farm products comes from.  Usually there are long rains beginning March to May with short rains in January and February but this year it has been totally different.  There were no rains since January until 20^th April when rains started in some parts of the country and in Molo the rains started on 23^rd April and we remain optimistic that the rain will continue.  As a routine farmers prepared their farms early and some of them even planted as they normally do but unfortunately they lost everything they planted as there were no rains at all although some seeds germinated, they didn’t survive.  Our young youths in polytechnic also experienced the loss of seeds as most of them planted in mid-March as they had high hopes the rain would fall before breaking for April holidays. 

They will be reporting back to school next week after April holiday where they will start planting again.  Since some of them lost all the seeds and planting materials they had saved previously they are now requesting for the support of more seeds to be planted during this rainy season.  They visited our office last week to inform us of the situation and requesting for the support of seeds and planting materials.  We have promised to support them with maize, peas and beans seeds as well as vegetables and other planting materials like sweet potatoes vines, spring onions and fruit tree seedlings.  During the distribution of the seeds and planting materials we will discuss the issues of water harvesting techniques to take advantage of the rains which we hope will continue.  Some of the simple water harvesting techniques that we hope to discuss with the schools management are roof water harvesting and ground water harvesting in water pans.  This is not the first time to discuss this issue but we hope to actualize the ideas together.  These schools are in need of support to enable them realize their dreams with their young students for food security and self-employment as a result of successful agribusiness activities.  It is very encouraging to see the good efforts put in place by the youths who are now appreciating agriculture and eager to learn more skills and knowledge.  We are proud of those who have succeeded even after finishing their courses where they have ventured into agribusiness activities and they are depending on themselves for income generation activities.  This has been made possible through well-wishers, donors and friends kind contribution and we take this opportunity on behalf of all the beneficiaries to express our gratitude to all.  Thank you very much and be blessed as we request for more support to our youths in polytechnics.