Food

Food Security: Good, Clean and Fair

Mission:“The idea is that with a minimum of external inputs, men and women can achieve the same top position in society—resulting in a boost of confidence, pride, and dignity based on the social, cultural, and agricultural heritage of the continent.” Samuel Muhunyu, Executive Director of NECOFA

Agricultural Training/Workshops. NECOFA trains in and advocates sustainable farming practices, identifies income-generating activities, provides new sustainable technologies to farmers (integrated pest management, composting, water harvesting, rope and water pumps, fish farming, etc.), and helps schools start 4-K school garden clubs. Workshops instruct teachers about:

• Composting
• Story (Urban) Gardens
• Food Preservation
• Organic Gardening Techniques, Preparing Vegetable Beds
• Leadership Skills
• Creating a Tree Nursery
• Animal Husbandry Options

Story gardens are used in urban areas and small farms with limited space. Stones are placed in the center to hold water, a soil-manure mixture is added around the parameter and vegetables are planted around the top and sides.

Communications. NECOFA develops organic agriculture networks to share and exchange ideas, exposing farmers to new technologies; offers an Internet Café to the community; and offers community workshops and ongoing support services. Staff members and consultants also teach community leaders how to blog about their agricultural projects and accomplishments, and to network with other NGOs and CBOs.

NECOFA: Helping Farmers, Food Security Projects. NECOFA engages in seed saving and seed multiplication projects and the promotion of indigenous foods, and facilitates microcredit programs. It organizes food contributions for people in extreme poverty, such as the Kokwa island refugees. Preserving Indigenous Plants. The organization and its partners work with other NGOs that train former pastorialists on sustainable agriculture, indigenous foods and the traditional uses of medicinal plants.

Poverty Eradication/Gender Equality. NECOFA facilitates income-generation projects, provides marketing services, and promotes gender equality and women empowerment. It sets up training for ecofarming, irrigation, fish farming, and oyster mushroom cultivation.

NECOFA collaborates with the Kenya Department of Fisheries, which is helping farmers make use of poor quality land by creating fish farms, providing food security and income potential to farmers and their families.

Food Security Events. NECOFA organizes food fairs, field days (for example, taking farmers to research and community centers, other farms, etc.), and other events. Domesticating the Slow Food Philosophy. As the coordinator of the Slow Food Central Rift, NECOFA’s Executive Director, Samuel Muhunyu, domesticates the Slow Food philosophy. He is incorporating the cultural aspects of food into his training and has grafted the principles of good, clean and fair foods and biodiversity onto all initiatives. NECOFA and other NGOs are also developing a national organic certification process so that farmers can afford to brand and promote their organic products.

Women in Kenya present the traditional foods of their tribes on a Slow Food day in Kenya. These demonstrations allow the women to feel pride in their cultural heritage, and to pass this information on to younger generations.

Turkana woman presents Turkana foods on Slow Food day in Kenya.