Sustainable Agriculture Extension Manual

Soil and water conservation by Shalawe Mwangi, Kenya

Since 1986, the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru, Kenya, assisted by Baraka Agricultural College, has been working with a network of more than 100 small-scale farmers practising sustainable agriculture. These farmers are particularly interested in conserving soil and water and improving their soil fertility. Over the past decade, the programme has conducted a number of workshops focusing on the concepts and practices of soil conservation, agroforestry, farm woodlots, integrated pest management, cropping systems, composting, and others.

Over the years, many of the practices were presented as a "package" of sustainable agriculture with the idea that participating farmers would adopt not only these practices, but that they would also disseminate the messages through a farmer-to-farmer approach. However, as the farmers tried innovations on their farms, they learned new things about how the various sustainable agriculture technologies did—or did not—fit their unique farm and community situations. Therefore, the programme staff began to work with the farmers to modify some of the practices using the participatory technology development process (see the section on Participatory technology development).

Shalawe Mwangi was chosen by his community to attend a 1-week workshop on sustainable agriculture at Baraka Agricultural College. After the course, he decided to conserve soil and water on his 0.8 ha (2 acre) farm. As he said to the programme extension staff: "I do not have compost and I do not intend to make it... I am not interested in double digging either... My problem is the lack of soil and water on my land."

Harvesting water

Shalawe had a unique problem. Excess water from a discharge drain was eroding the soil on his fields. So he wanted to be able to develop a way to intercept and harvest the water and prevent the soil from being washed away. This, he felt, would enable him to bring his land back into sustainable production.

The law did not permit Shalawe to divert the discharge drain. So he decided to harvest the water for use on his farm. After examining his options, he dug 10 pits in the bottom of the drain to collect the water (Picture 1). Each pit was 3 m

(10 feet) long, 1 m (3 feet) wide, and 1 m (3 feet) deep. He laid the pits out in such a way that when the first pit was full, the water would flow into the next one, continuing until all 10 were full of water.

Shalawe discovered that usually the rains would stop before the tenth pit was completely full. This meant that the water was effectively intercepted for use on the farm. He was happy about this success and proud of his ability to solve the problem. Since the programme extension staff had trusted in his ability, he in turn developed trust in the staff and gained confidence.

Reducing soil erosion

Shalawe thought that neither fanya juu nor fanya chini terracing (see the section on Conserving soil and water) would control runoff and help rebuild the soil on his sloping land. So he decided to use a combination of the two. He discussed the idea with the programme staff, and decided to do the work in stages. In the first year, he built a shallow trench along the contour, 1 m (3 feet) wide. He planted banana trees in the trench (Picture 2).

Below the trench, he dug a fanya juu terrace to catch soil that was washed downslope (Picture 3).

In the second year, he constructed a fanya chini terrace above the line of bananas, sandwiching the line of bananas between the fanya juu and fanya chini terraces, and creating a strip 120–150 cm (4–5 feet) wide (Picture 4).

On this strip he interplanted cassava, sugarcane, papaya trees, Grevellea robusta and other crops. The strip helped build a protective embankment, speeding up the development of bench terraces (Picture 5).

Looking back

After five years of commitment, hard work, creativity and experimentation, Shalawe is proud of where he is today. The improvements have enabled his family to produce more food, and they have even been able to sell some produce. Shalawe has been able to improve his house and build a tank to collect water. He can confidently show visitors what he has done on his farm. As he puts it: “Before, I was regarded as unproductive and had nothing to contribute to the development of my family or my village… But now you can see for yourself.” —For more information, contact William Keyah, Catholic Diocese of Kenya.

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