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Kenya: Kitchen garden models ideal for urban farming

Dagoretti South chief agricultural officer Elizabet Nzambuli at one of the kitchen gardens at Kilimo House, Nairobi, Image: DOUGLAS OKIDDY

The Agriculture ministry is encouraging urban dwellers to set up kitchen gardens

By Agatha Ngotho
The Star
Oct 5, 2020

Excerpt:

Kitchen gardens have been proven as one of the easiest and fastest ways households can ensure inexpensive, regular and handy supply of fresh vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices.

Agriculture CAS Anne Nyaga says well-planned kitchen gardens can also guarantee households access to a healthy diet that contains adequate macro and micronutrients as many different kinds of foods can be produced.

The ministry is encouraging people who live in urban areas to even have kitchen gardens at their verandas.

To demonstrate different technologies available for the establishment of a kitchen garden, Nyaga says the Ministry of Agriculture has set up a demonstration and learning site at Kilimo House.

The site showcases 12 kitchen garden technologies that can be used in different agro-ecological zones, urban and rural areas.

Elizabeth Nzambuli, the chief agricultural officer, Dagoretti South subcounty, says the model kitchen garden was established to ensure every Kenyan has safe and the right food to consume.

“In urban set-ups, many people may not have pieces of land but they can use the available spaces,” Nzambuli says, adding that they want to promote technologies that can use little water and yet ensure food security.

“There are several gardens that would suit the city person and even a person who lives in an area where water is a challenge, especially now with climate change.”

Read the complete article here.