Pilotprojekt „Mobile/ Landless Farming“

Thanks to the nyendo student company Prien, Tonny Karori from the Nyendo Office Nairobi and my companion received 400.-€ in May this year to start a pilot project. Our project is about portable containers of any kind, which can be used as plant towers or garden towers to achieve high yields on a very small area with minimal water consumption.

At the beginning we had our friends in the slum as target group in mind, but also Massai friends and a project in the Mt.Kenya region to strengthen the unemployed rural youth showed great interest in our towers.

So, from the middle of May, thick and thin pipes, grids, nets and plastic keys were purchased to build 12 towers, as well as seeds. Also, 5 bags of fresh fruit and vegetable waste from the market were brought to my oseki farm for composting. The construction and filling took a few weeks as we could only work on it by the day and the thick plastic and mesh wire is difficult to work with. It requires tools of a craftsman here.

Finally, at the end of June, they were standing, the impressive towers! Most of them had to be “chained” in order not to endanger life and limb of animals and humans. The water-catching plastic bowls soon gave way and burst under the weight of surely 50 kg of soil. One person could no longer move the towers. Unfortunately, the seeds had only partially sprouted, also due to incompetent care at a vulnerable stage. So we decided to get cheap seedlings and I contributed from the fund of my vegetable nursery more plantlets.

Proudly and full of anticipation, the towers were now gradually planted in mid-July with collard greens, chard, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, garlic and sweet potatoes and admired for their promising appearance. Next, they had to be watered in the morning and evening, and after 2 weeks the seedlings were thinned. Soon the birds were feasting on our vegetables before work began.

We covered the towers as best we could with nets I had on hand. The nightly cold of about 10 degrees Celsius left its mark on the leaves and a group of hartebeests had also helped themselves one night and reduced the harvest. We have now set up protective measures against this. Cow antelopes jump 2 meter high fences from a standing start!

Despite everything, in August we could already harvest collard greens and chard. We have to wait a little longer for the other vegetables. In the meantime, meetings and talks took place in Kangemi Slum with the management of Kangemi Youth – and Kanyorosha School, because we need a “showground” on site to show how farming works. We also need a kind of “base camp” to store compost and other individual parts. The individual parts will then be assembled on site and distributed to the future “urban farmers”. The place will also be used for training and exchange. The response, especially from colleagues at the Kanyorosha School, was very positive, and nothing stands in the way of cooperation.

Extremely important in the whole process was the involvement of my personal garden and tree advisor, the Masai Geoffrey Nkoitiko. He was able to help the Garden Tower team by using a mixture of ash and aloe vera to protect the plants from pests and from the nightly cold shock, and was always on hand to offer advice and support.

Unfortunately, it was neglected to keep accurate records of yields to date. However, from now on we will try to record all further data as well as possible.

Most promising was the visit to Geoffrey’s Massai community on September 1st. They have been building a growing network of now 700 members for 12 years to better address their social and economic challenges. Examples include schooling their children and providing for their widows. This well-structured and disciplined organization has already drilled its own well with additional outside funding, installed a solar pump and planted a garden with many bulbs, irrigated with a so-called “dripping system”, a system of perforated hoses connected to the water tank. They are very interested in the “Garden Tower” farming project. Geoffrey has agreed to conceptualize the next phase and carry it out with a team.