KENYA: Residents in Kibera, one of the biggest slums in the world find ways of feeding their families on simple sack and soil technology amid soaring food prices

Record ID: 361419

  • Title: KENYA: Residents in Kibera, one of the biggest slums in the world find ways of feeding their families on simple sack and soil technology amid soaring food prices
  • Date: 24th July 2009
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF FAMILY AT DINNER
  • Embargoed: 8th August 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Economic News,Social Services / Welfare
  • Reuters ID: LVA226U0Q1C27GM2IXIZARCTJF8O
  • Story Text: Residents in Kenya's capital, Nairobi's biggest slum Kibera, have found an ingenious way to feed their families, amid sky rocketing food prices.
    Many doorsteps in Kibera these days are flanked by earth-filled sacks planted with kales, spinach, onions, tomatoes and other vegetables, thanks to a small-scale urban agriculture project funded by the French government and run by a French NGO, Solisarites.
    More than 60 percent of people in Nairobi leave in Kibera, and this new project is aimed to aid sustainability and self sufficiency of the locals.
    This comes for residents who live in an over populated area, with little access to land.
    "We want to improve the food security situation by giving them means to produce their own food through urban agriculture and the way we found for that is for them to make this garden in a sack that you just see there, where they can put next to their household [sic] and raise [sic] their own vegetables. Thanks to that they can stop buying vegetables, eat it themselves and even sell the surplus," said Emmanuel Rinck, Solidarites country director.
    Residents say it has become a source of income as well as food.
    Those with more sacks sell the surplus vegetables.
    "This is a very exciting development, this means that we can grow and harvest our kales regardless the weather. When it is sunny we can always irrigate our sacks and get our harvest, we do not buy kales anymore," said Hildah Awuor, a Kibera resident.
    This initiative involves planting vegetables seedlings on the side of earth filled sacks that are placed on roof tops or doorsteps.
    Each family receives one to three sacks filled with earth and so far, 6000 families have benefitted from this project and are now cropping tomatoes, onions, kales or spinach.
    A single sack can contain 50 seedlings of kales or spinach and 20 tomato plants.
    "This harvest I have just made could have cost me about 20 shillings at the local grocer, since I have the vegetables now I can spare the 20 shillings for cooking oil or even tomatoes," said Linet Tabu, a Kibera resident.
    Vegetables are used directly and indirectly by the household to obtain food, access cash when needed and educate children. On average, each household increased its weekly income of 5US dollars. Given that in Kibera, house rent is around 6 US dollars/month, this is an important source of income.
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