Our silo at Sidai Primary is full and will provide lunches for the 325 children every school day.

Report from Pauline our office manager in Nakuru.

We are already in the third month of the year, and we are thankful for continued support from the UK, teamwork from the Kenyan team and God’s favour over Feeding Futures. Below is the March reporting on all project areas. 

Sidai School Meals 

During the month of March, Feeding Futures did a bulk purchase of food grain for the school feeding program at Sidai Comprehensive School. This was aimed at ensuring that even when the grains are not available in the market, the feeding program would not experience hiccups. This was also aimed at ensuring purchase was made when prices are pocket friendly. With the ever-changing inflation in the country, this curbed the risk of purchasing while prices are high.  

Beans planted at the school shamba in Sidai. 

During the purchase, 70 bags of maize were bought and 10 bags of beans. The maize is to be stored in the silo after moisture measurement. This bulk purchase is intended to sustain the feeding program until October. After October, we are hoping for a high produce harvest from the school shamba which can bring the feeding program to the end of the year for term three. 

Agricultural training 

According to the work plan the field team was expected to have covered crop rotation and diversification during the month of March. This training was necessary as farmers approached the planting season.  

  1. Seed distribution to farmers. 

With an aim of aiding farmers in crop diversification, Feeding Futures supported them with certified DK777 maize seeds and vegetables seeds such as carrots, cabbage, and spinach.  The distribution was made equally during a group meeting whereby 112 farmers were supported with 0.25kgs of maize seeds, 10g of spinach seeds, 10g of carrot seeds and 10g of cabbage seeds.  

2. Compost distribution among farmers of Githioro group.  

The compost that was prepared by farmers of Githioro group matured and was ready for distribution to the members. It was exciting to see them having worked together as a team for months, to learn something that would be of significant impact to their agricultural practices. 

Margaret got an opportunity to travel overseas and advance her career. Feeding Futures and the farmers from Subukia will miss her dearly for she was such an asset to the organization. 

To ensure easy transition, the Feeding Futures team met with the group leaders and their assistants from each group at the Munanda Chief’s Camp. There, we broke the news of Margaret’s departure to the farmers and introduced them to Sabina who was joining the team. 

Munanda Tree Nursery. 

  1. Tree nursery 

Tree seedlings at the nursery are ready for sale and distribution to the local community in Subukia. With the rainy season approaching, we expect to have sales of tree seedlings to help keep operations of the tree nursery afloat. 

2. Demo plots 

The demo plots at Munanda currently have cabbages in one plot, potatoes in two plots and broccoli in one plot. The broccoli seeds were provided by Mahyco Kenya for demonstration to the local farmers. 

 

Mount Kenya University visit

Mount Kenya University students from the main campus in Thika visited Feeding Futures on the 1st of March 2024. They came as a group of 50 students and 2 lecturers for a field trip in Subukia. The Feeding Futures team hosted the group and took them to Sidai Comprehensive School and the Munanda Tree Nursery. At Sidai, they found out how we run the school feeding program, and got a chance to visit the 4K club demonstration plot. They were fascinated by Feeding Futures’ efforts to change the lives of children from rural communities. While at Munanda Tree Nursery, they got a chance to see how involved Feeding Futures is in climate change mitigation as well as efforts to train the local community on best conservation agriculture practices that are show cased on the demo plots.