‘Let us trust our scientists for local solutions,’ stakeholders told during national dialogue on GMOs
Hesitance to adopt key biotechnologies could compromise Kenya’s food security and leave it paces behind other countries that long took that leap, Prof Shaukat Abdulrazak, The Principal Secretary, State Department for Science, Research, and Innovation. But the government, in a clear display of supporting agricultural biotechnology, lifted the longstanding ban on GMOs in 2022, albeit […]
Against All Odds: The Remarkable Story of a Clerk Turned Seed Entrepreneur
A very energetic and vibrant Mrs. Patience Dhahabu Charo cannot hide her joy at the anticipated seed harvest she will get from her cassava seed farm in Mikingirini Village- Kilifi County In the early 2000s, Patience Dhahabu who was then a station clerk at the Kilifi District Cooperative Union office was rendered jobless from her […]
Turning Passion into an Enterprise: The Rise of a Subsistence Farmer to a Seed Entrepreneur
Joseph Mwita Matiko (captured in his cassava seed farm-photo above) is a farmer based in Kuria East, Migori County in Kenya, Joseph owns a 1-acre piece of land which he has been practicing his mixed crop farming with his family and household for close to the last 2 decades. Joseph, a passionate maize and vegetable […]
A Renowned Cassava Seed Producer
Valeria, a renowned cassava seed producer in her village is one of the 25 CSEs enrolled in the project from Busia County in end of 2022. Valeria cannot hide her excitement from the VIRCA project’s anticipated impact on her community. “We have a cassava processing facility built by the County Government and run by Uchumi Women […]
Dwarfed by the Canopy of his Cassava Farm
Dwarfed by the canopy of his cassava farm, Lawrence a CSEs in Kilifi County, poses for a photo during a farm monitoring visit at his home. Lawrence joined the VIRCA project in October 2022 where he managed to receive training on improved and disease-resistant cassava seed varieties and the CSE model, Lawrence decided to invest […]
Rooting for Change: How Cassava is Transforming Lives in Kilifi County
In Mikingirini, a small village of Kilifi County, coastal Kenya, Patience Dhahabu is engaging locals who have visited her to buy cassava. It is time to harvest her 4-acre sprawl of the crop which, alongside maize, is the local staple. Ms Dhahabu is a seasoned cassava farmer. Every season since 2010, she makes sure that […]
Rooted in Tradition: One Farmer’s Hope for the Future of Cassava
Francis Ekisa Otiengi cannot name all the cassava varieties grown in Teso, Busia County, western Kenya, where he lives. They are very many, he says, naming MM, Selina, Shibe, Karembo, Siri, Nzalauka and Karibuni, and then his voice trails off until he mentions Tajirika. It is less prone to diseases, he says. It is not […]
Farmers See a Promising Future with KingaKUU Cassava
When we talk to Lilian Ziro, she has just arrived home from one of her friends’ farms, in neighbouring Mikingirini, Kilifi County, coastal Kenya. She had dashed out to buy cassava so she would make lunch for her family, and a 15-minute walk took her to Ms. Dhahabu’s farm. Why would a cassava farmer have […]
Cassava Takes Root: A Farmer’s Shift Towards a More Resilient Future
Mr. Cosmas Mole has been undergoing training on cassava seed entrepreneurship through the VIRCA project for two years. So good has it been that Mr. Mole is now switching from farming maize for the first time and planting the Tajirika variety, a common variety among farmers in Kilifi County, coastal Kenya. In his Kaloleni neighbourhood, […]
