IMPROVED FALLOW PRACTICES FOR FOOD SECURITY AMONG RESOURCE–POOR FARMERS IN LOWER NYAKACH, KISUMU COUNTY, KENYA.

Obuoyo J. A.; Ochola C. O.

Volume : IV, Issue : XI, November - 2015

IMPROVED FALLOW PRACTICES FOR FOOD SECURITY AMONG RESOURCE–POOR FARMERS IN LOWER NYAKACH, KISUMU COUNTY, KENYA.

Obuoyo J. A. , Ochola C. O.

Abstract :

Declining soil fertility due to nitrogen deficiency is recognized as one of the major limiting factors to sustainable food production in Sub–Saharan Africa. Soil fertility has been declining because of continuous crop cultivation with little or no nutrient inputs. Decreased productivity of agricultural land has further worsened food deficit in this region of the world. Improved fallow practices– short–duration tree fallows were introduced and tested under on–farm trials among small–scale, resource–poor farmers in Lower Nyakach, Kenya so as to replenish soil fertility. The objective of this study was to examine the influence of these practices on food security among these farmers. The results revealed that improved fallow practices increased the farmers� yield three–fold (300 percent increase) within four harvesting seasons (two years). The practice was feasible and profitable to farmers. The farmers� participation in on–farm trials and the potential of the practice to increase food production without applying chemical fertilizers excited the resource–poor farmers, who operate under low–input or no–input farming systems that are characterized by infertile soils, unreliable rainfall and low yields. The idea of food sovereignty should be adopted by the government of Kenya and other governments in the developing world, and therefore the resource–poor farmers in these countries. Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. While the objective of food security may sound good, the concept of Food Security has been mis–used to justify policies that prioritize only yield and the delivery of food to consumers by any means. It as become divorced fro any consideration of how that food is produced and by whom. It is mis–used to justify and encourage the industrialization of agriculture, food aid, the use of genetically modified seeds, the shifting of food production from diverse crops for local markets to monocultures for export, and the liberalization of markets where small scale producers are put out of business and production by subsidized imports. Policies based on this narrow understanding of Food Security have also failed to protect consumers and producers from so� food prices. Thus, under Food Security practices prescribed by governments, business and FAO, world hunger is growing, faster even than population growth. Despite scientific hi–tech approaches, hunger is increasing. Food has increasingly become a commodity for maximizing profits for the few rather than actually feeding people. Real Food Security is impossible without first achieving food sovereignty