In Machakos County, agriculture is the predominant economic activity; it is leading in terms of employment, food security and family income earnings. Therefore growth in the sector contributes proportionally more to poverty reduction than growth in any other economic sector. However, the region is experiencing declines in agricultural productivity attributed to low and erratic rainfall and majorly degradation of farm lands. With a growing population and increasing demand for more and higher quality foods, and given this emerging problems, new and innovative solutions are required to improve food security in the county. ACT in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and KALRO have taken the lead under the project funded by AGRA (Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa) titled “Conservation Agriculture for Food Security and Profitability” (CA4FS) purposed to enhance adoption of conservation agriculture (CA) as a sustainable option for meeting the rising food demands in the county.

CA has tremendous potential for achieving yield increases for staple cereals and legumes by improving the growth conditions for crops and the efficiency of input besides contributing to reverse soil degradation process by facilitating better rainwater infiltration and enabling groundwater recharge.

The project has seen 112 CA on-farm demonstration plots managed by farmers in Machakos County (Yatta, Mwala and Machakos Sub counties) established to increase awareness on conservation agriculture among smallholder farmers and created deeper understanding on the potentials this technology holds for agricultural sector in the region. On Wednesday 10th June, 2015, ACT in collaboration with the project partners organized and held a Farmers’ Field Day in Musaalani village, Vyulia Location at Mrs Regina Muthoki Ngile’s (Kwa Ngile) demonstration farm with the objective of creating awareness to farmers and key actors in the sector of agriculture on the importance of Conservation agriculture and good agronomic practices in enhancing agricultural productivity of farmlands within the region. This provided an opportunity to farmers to interact with host farmer and various CA experts and be able to observe the effects of different treatments in the demonstration plots on crop performances and soil improvements.

The event was officiated by the County Director of Agriculture (CDA) Ms. Priscillah Arungo (representing the County Minister for Agriculture) with other staff from the Ministry of Agriculture. It brought together over 200 farmers and key stakeholders in agriculture sector to interact and share different experiences and perceptions on sustainable agricultural practices.

Different activities were carried out sequentially during the day ranging from trained farmers taking other farmers through various treatments in the demonstration plots, CA experts interacting with farmers at the information desk and demonstrating to farmers how to use various CA tools and equipment, different stakeholders who included World Vision, Community Based organization (Musii Youth Forum) and Ministry of Agriculture showcasing to farmers their products. The event was concluded with a Baraza where various speakers got a chance to emphasize on the need to have the region adopt new and sustainable technologies given the enormous contemporary challenges farmers are facing.

The chief Guest reiterated the commitment of the County Government to support farmers in adoption of modern technologies like Conservation agriculture to ensure farmers have something to eat and sell at end of the day. She appreciated the various stakeholders linked to the project and encouraged them to press on in bringing such solutions to farmers’ problems caused by inappropriate farming systems daunted by effects of climate change.

At the end of the day, everyone went home with new thinking as expressed by many farmers who managed to participate in the various event activities.