by Christine Lagat
MACHAKOS, Kenya, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Joyce Nduku's three-acrefarm located at the heart of Kenya's Machakos county was thehallmark of green shoots on Thursday thanks to several days ofheavy downpour.
The middle-aged mother of eight was optimistic the much awaitedrains would herald a bumper harvest and a quicker recover from thedrought-incurred hunger in a locality renowned for rampant foodinsecurity.
Apart from the rain, Nduku and dozens of her peers are alsograteful for the ecologically sensitive farming methods promoted byinternational and local conservationists to beat hunger amidclimatic stresses.
Speaking to Xinhua at her farm Cheap Men's Nike Air Presto Black Yellow , Nduku pointed at a promisingfuture thanks to organic farming and inter-cropping that have inthe past delivered higher yields in her farm.
"The experience that I have gained in my 25 years of farming hastriggered an urge to keep on adapting to new ways of producingfood, and organic farming stands out as the most effective shieldagainst hunger in the face of harsh weather," said Nduku.
She is among thousands of smallholder farmers in Machakos andother semi-arid Kenyan counties who are engaging inclimate-resilient farming practices championed by Green PeaceAfrica in conjunction with local partners.
So far, Green Peace Africa and a local conservation lobby,Institute for Culture and Ecology (ICE) has trained Nduku and hercolleagues how to harness indigenous knowledge and innovations totransform food production in the face of climatic stresses.
Joseph Mbuvi Cheap Nike Air Presto BR Navy , a local agricultural officer, said the number offarmers who are engaging in climate resilient food productionmethods has been increasing.
"Farmers have realized droughts are now a recurrent phenomenonand are practicing agro-forestry, water harvesting and use oforganic manure to boost crop yield," said Mbuvi.
Nduku and her colleagues have heeded the call to realign theirfarming methods with changing weather patterns and are not onlyboasting of surplus harvests but have also expanded their revenuestreams.
Two weeks before the onset of the rain season, the affablefarmer planted maize Cheap Men's Nike Air Presto Black Red , beans, green grams and cow peas using compostmanure.
The legumes and cereals in Nduku's well-tended farm are nowinches tall and lush green following adequate rains in her localitysince early April.
An ardent fan of mixed cropping, bench terracing andagro-forestry, Nduku was upbeat the harvest will be abundant tocater for domestic consumption.
"In recent times, I have managed to harvest six bags of maize ina single acre thanks to use of compost manure and bench terracingthat prevents soil nutrient loss during rains Cheap Men's Nike Air Presto QS Green Black ," Nduku toldXinhua.
Other smallholder farmers agreed with Nduku that climate smartagriculture is not an option but an imperative in the face ofrecurrent . Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys China Free Shipping Cheap Jerseys China Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys China Free Shipping Wholesale Cheap Hockey Jerseys Wholesale Football Jerseys From China Wholesale College Baseball Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China