Self sustaining all weather garden that mimics an ecological supermarket
Featured
  • Facebook

15 January 2025 Author :   Isaiah Esipisu

ELDORET, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Samson Tanui’s piece of land in Kesses, a village in the outskirts of Eldoret City is a living example of ecological farming, one of the themes that took centre stage at the just concluded 29th round of climate negotiations (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan.

On his plot, the father of two children has demonstrated how a quarter an acre of land can be used to produce food all year round without paying attention to seasonal rainfall, thereby generating daily income, and nourishing his family with fresh homegrown food.

“This garden is my ecological mini-supermarket,” said Tanui. “At any given time, my family has access to different types of fruits such as oranges, guavas, bananas, mangoes and berries among others, fresh leafy vegetables, eggs, honey, chicken meat, goat milk, rabbit meat, tubers, freshly picked cereals like perennial beans, and soon we will have fresh fish from our makeshift fish pond,” he said.

And now, experts at COP29 have called on leaders to avail funding for such innovative sustainable farming techniques as a way of building climate resilience and adaptation to climate change, thereby promoting sustainable food systems.

Tanui employs permaculture farming system with adherence to agroecological farming techniques, where crops depend on the livestock for soil fertility in order to produce food for the family, and fodder and feeds for the livestock. As a result, biodiversity thrives, with insects like bees relying on crop flowers to make honey, while in the process, they cross pollinate the crops.

During COP29 in Baku, delegates in different forums discussed about the need to promote sustainable food security, production and nutrition, while conserving, protecting and restoring nature as a way of adapting to the looming climate crisis.

“As climate change profoundly disrupts food systems, the only way to safeguard global food security is to prioritise helping small-scale farmers to adapt to the new reality,” said Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). “The first step is for leaders at COP29 to set an ambitious goal for adaptation finance that allows food production to continue even as the planet warms.”

If scaled up, experts observed that sustainable agricultural practices can reduce emissions, enhance food security, and create resilience against future climate shocks.

“Small-scale farmers often live in poverty and have little choice. They must adapt or will starve,” said Lario, noting that adaptation is a matter of global food security, but also geopolitical stability.

Tanui’s garden has been set up based on a deliberate plan in relation to the principles of permaculture, where it has been divided into five different segments. The first unit is his house, and right outside, there is the second unit, which is a kitchen garden, mainly featuring vegetables that include cabbages, kales, spinach, cowpeas, amaranth, egg plants, and chilli among others.

“The kitchen garden unit must be set next to the house because it requires intensive management, and the crops planted there are needed in the kitchen from time to time,” said Tanui. It is around this area that he has sunk a borehole whose water is pumped using solar energy to an overhead plastic tank before it is directed to the fish pond and the farm using gravitational force.         

The next zone is what he calls fertiliser production unit. This is where he keeps poultry, rabbits and dairy goats. “Apart from eggs, we value the chicken droppings so much, which we use as fish feeds, and we also mix them with those from the goats and rabbits, including rabbit urine to make organic fertilisers,” he said.

A recent study by scientists from the Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture, a public university located in Multan, Punjab, Pakistan finds that replacing soybean meal with poultry manure in fish feed can result in comparable growth performance for fish as long as it is well processed. The droppings are also rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, making it an excellent source of plant nutrients.

Tanui also uses egg shells from his poultry unit as an important ingredient in making organic fertilisers. Studies have also found that the shells are comprised of about 96 percent calcium carbonate, an essential plant nutrient, and moderates soil acidity.

On the fourth zone, there is a greenhouse where he grows different types of vegetables using manure and locally prepared organic fertilisers. “Unlike the kitchen garden, vegetables from this unit are mainly for income generation,” said the farmer.

In the same zone is a fish pond constructed using wood and thick plastic bags. The inlet of the pond is a plastic bottle with several holes pocked in it, suspended about two feet above the pond, and connects to a pipe that draws water from an overhead water tank.

“When the water drops to the pond from an elevated distance, it forms bubbles on the pond, which helps in supplying oxygen for the fish,” he said. The pond outlet drains directly into the fifth and final unit, known as the food forest.

The food forest, indeed, is a forest, but it features mainly trees and shrubs that produce edible fruits, vegetables such as pumpkins, and crops like sugarcanes, fodder crops for his livestock among others. It is on this unit that he produces organic fertilisers such as bokashi, vermi liquid and compost manure. It is also in this unit where he keeps the Black Soldier Flies for production of chicken and fish feeds.

The food forest as well features an apiculture unit for honey production, where bees constantly pick nectar from a variety of crops on the garden. Within the forest are different medicinal herbs such as ocimum and lemon grass, which can be boiled and inhaled to relieve colds, coughs, among other ailments.

 

To control pests, the farmer uses insect repellant plants such as Mexican marigold, Rosemary plant, and different types of mints among others.

 

Apart from agroecology, delegates at COP29 called for more investment in climate smart irrigation, water collecting techniques and infrastructure, drought tolerant crops, agroforestry, and improved soil management.

--------- --------- --------- ---------
Top
We use cookies to improve our website. By continuing to use this website, you are giving consent to cookies being used. More details…