Farmers restoring drylands in Kenya
Smallholders and governments commit to restoring land through innovative, climate-smart agriculture.
Lydia Spilsbury
Lydia Spilsbury is a communications intern for the Eastern and Southern Africa regional office and is based at the headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. She provides communication support at both programme and country levels, producing communication materials, covering events and writing blogs and success stories. She has been with ICRAF since January 2019 and holds a Master's degree in Environment and Development from the University of Edinburgh
Regreening activities kick-off in Somalia
Thousands of farmers are set to benefit from land restoration in the drought- and strife-stricken country.
Kenyan value chains are crucial for regreening efforts
Researchers show development of value chains is important for restoring degraded land in Kenya. Development of value chains is a key driver for successful implementation of regreening efforts and market access, say researchers from World Agroforestry and...
Flood-Based Livelihoods Symposium: Harnessing the potential of flood water
Researchers, governments and development agencies are hastening to harness the potential of floodwater for securing food security and sustainable livelihoods. Seasonal flooding is largely considered a destructive hazard that disrupts many agricultural activities and livelihoods. However, according to...
Restoring drylands and empowering farmers: lessons from the Drylands Development Programme
Successful land restoration needs human capacity, innovative technologies and mass participation. The countries of the Sahel Region of West Africa are vulnerable to the impact of large-scale environmental and land degradation, poor soil infertility, climate change, population...
Kenya challenged to meet regreening target
The East African nation’s farmers are slow to adopt reforestation and regreening practices owing to a range of difficulties. A regreening uptake rate of over 52 percent will be needed to reach Kenya’s 10,000 direct adoption target, according...
Technologies to enhance and monitor soil carbon for Africa
Healthy soil is critical for productive agriculture in Africa. To address declining health, countries are sharing knowledge and learning about new technologies.
Agroforestry and land health in Malawi
In the last five years ICRAF has helped establish comprehensive soil information systems in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Ghana and Nigeria. Malawi is determined to be next. Africa has over 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land but remains a...
Strengthening agricultural research in Kenya
High-level conference prioritizes research to transform the country’s agriculture The Inaugural High Panel Conference on Agricultural Research in Kenya took place at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) on 13 September 2018. The conference brought together people...
Lessons from Kenya on how to restore degraded land
The state of the earth’s biodiversity – the world’s variety of living organisms – is in crisis. About one third of the world’s land has been severely degraded from its natural state. Some of the worst forms of...
Farm ponds offer a unique integrated solution for Kitui County, Kenya
Farm ponds are quickly emerging as novel hubs for integrated, climate-smart technologies promoted through the Drylands Development programme in the vast semi-arid landscapes of Kitui County in eastern Kenya Water shortage occasioned by prolonged drought has been a...
How governments can monitor progress towards better nutrition
Stochastic Impact Evaluation is being used to model the impacts of policies and other decisions about agricultural development on household nutrition By Cory Whitney and Eike Luedeling Goal 2 of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development...
Banning charcoal isn’t the way to go. Kenya should make it sustainable
A woman sells charcoal in Nairobi, Kenya. Flickr/Laura Rantanen By Mary Njenga, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) The Kenyan government has clamped down on the production of charcoal, which it blames for environmental damage. A three-month ban on trading...
Women in Kenya improve their families’ food security through simple land-restoration technology
Despite challenges from both the land and society, women in Kenya are taking control of their farms, with impressive results. Following a previous article on the topic, we delve deeper into a farming technique that is alleviating food...