Community Mobilization against Poverty

Community Mobilization Against Poverty - CMAP
P.O Box 3906 Kitale Kenya, E. Africa
Email: [email protected]
GROW BIOINTENSIVE SUSTAINABLE MINI-FARMING; Farmer Training and Crop Production program

The small-scale farmers in remote parts of western Kenya are currently facing a series of challenges that include climate change, soil depletion, water shortages, overpopulation and a shortage of farmers. All of these challenges impact the effectiveness and sustain-ability of the food supply chain that the majority of farmers and urban dwellers around the region have come to rely upon for their food: a chain that has become dependent on chemical-based, conventional agriculture, and the fossil-fuel intensive fertilizers, pesticides methods that make them possible.

There is a growing demand for local, sustainably produced food and a growing urgency to create a more reliable and less destructive food web as an alternative to the conventional factory farming network we currently rely upon. However, there are also very few farmers with the skills necessary to practice sustainable smaller-scale market farming.

To address these challenges it is necessary to for farmers to learn to use sustainable, smaller-scale farming methods that will allow them to increase yields while conserving resources and minimizing environmental damage. Farmers educated in these methods will have skills that allow them to thrive in semi-urban farming
environments where they will have access to urban markets and business customers, and will provide a solid foundation for creating resilient local food webs that can survive challenges and foster community spirit better than industrialized mega-farms.

The Community Mobilization Against Poverty,CMAP, has created a Farmer Training program that brings together a group of Master Farmers with a combined 25 years of expertise to teach potential small-scale farmers the GROW BIOINTENSIVE Sustainable Mini-Farming method, which is currently in use in over 140 countries around the world, and is particularly well-suited for use by market farmers growing on smaller, semi-urban plots because it provides the tools to achieve high yields at low cost while building soil fertility and conserving precious resources such as water, land and energy.

This course offers an excellent opportunity for farmers and potential small-scale farmers to acquire a wealth of information on the most efficient gardening method we know, gathered from over forty years of research and hands-on practical experience in the field. The program will consist of lecture, discussion and demonstration and will include a full range of information on Sustainability and Efficient Resource Use, Crops and Diet, Fertilization, Compost and Compost Crops, Soil Preparation and Preservation, Seed Propagation, and In-come, as well as the perspective to tie all these together. The program is divided between classroom lectures and practical fieldwork.

The CMAP is a non-profit grassroots organization, and our work is focused on researching and rediscovering the techniques and scientific principles involved in the resource-conserving, life-giving GROW BIOIN-TENSIVE (GB) method. The GB method is a modern, scientific technique based on millennia-old practices for sustaining soil fertility in harmony with nature, and is an important element in creating solutions to the problems of the planet. Our research focuses on growing food and income on a closed-system basis, with soil fertility maintained sustainably from within the garden. Our workshops encourage gardeners around the region to find solutions appropriate to their own context. Our goal is to find a way to live lightly on the planet so that the planet's resources can be enjoyed by all.

Your support could help us continue our transformative work:
US Dollars 35.05/ GB£ 28 could be used to deliver step wise farmers’ training on the most efficient gardening method we know, gathered from over forty years of research and hands-on practical experience in the field and help more farmers access drought-tolerant seeds that can withstand extreme weather conditions.
US Dollars 188 / GB£ 150 could be used to deliver training on the most basic financial literacy skills and use these skills to manage their profits from agricultural production programs. This will also include assisting farmers in the establishment of Voluntary Savings and Lending Associations (VSLAs) shall provide an appropriate, transparent system for group saving, lending, and social insurance. Association members shall be encouraged to embrace saving small amounts of money over a period of time and then making loans to each other to cover business, personal, and household costs.

With almost 15 years of experience CMAP's team is on the ground and ready to help potential small-scale farmers grow sustainable businesses that can survive a crisis.