Moringa to support Kenyan farmers health & wealth

Introduction

Moringa to support Kenyan Farmers Health and Wealth project continue to progress well with awareness and usage of Moringa power increasing in the County and within the community we are working with. This project is mainly focused on Moringa tree for its nutritional value for the farmers and extra to sale for income for the now 500 farmers we are working with. Besides the Moringa trees grown by the farmers, we still plant over 25 other different varieties of trees for different uses. The Farmers have started benefiting from other trees products like sustainable harvesting of branches for firewood and charcoal production.

During the quarter, the main activities were harvesting moringa seeds and leaves and bringing them to the DNRC site for sale. Below is more details of the activities and challenges during the quarter. Accompanying are attached pictures of the accomplished activities. We say thank you so much for your continued support and health partnership in this project. God bless.

a. Collecting of moringa seeds and processing moringa leaves into powder

During the quarter, about 40kg of moringa seeds were brought to the office and packed for sale for income. We were also able to process 35kg of moringa power from the leaves brought by the farmers to the site. Once the farmers bring seeds to the site, they are weighed and once sold, the farmers are paid and DNRC makes some margin for sustainability of the project. The same happens to the leaves and the farmers bring them fresh and at the site are dried and using kiln and mortar is made into powder. (See attached pictures of collected moringa seed, leaves being dried and moringa powder.)

b. Propagating moringa and training.

We continued to propagate more moringa seeds in our nursery and training farmers on how to manage the existing moringa trees for optimize the yields. (See attached picture of the tree nursery)

c. Challenges

• Slow local moringa product market. We are trying to sensitize the local market about uses of moringa through word of mouth and display in the office

d. Focus for next quarter.

• To continue to propagate more moringa seedlings and maintenance of the same for October – December rains
• To continue training the farmers on moringa tree maintenance and the importance.
• To continue harvesting moringa seeds and drying leaves for sale and source for both local and international markets.