What is NEFSALF?The Nairobi and Environs Food Security, Agriculture and Livestock Forum (NEFSALF), was established following a multi-stakeholder workshop held in March 2003 entitled “Workshop on Urban Livestock Keeping for Improved Livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa.” It has been in operation since January 2004.

City and environs agriculture and livestock keeping contribute toward the improvement of well-being, incomes and skills of those who practice it. They are often people making the effort to deal with impoverishment.

NEFSALF is a mix of actors from the community, government and market sectors, in order to promote cooperation around the city and environs food security, agriculture and livestock keeping matters, also referred to as urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA).

Community sector: includes farmers and livestock keepers, individuals and groups in the city and environs, partner civic organizations and research bodies. Government sector: includes central government actors with concerns about city and environs food security, agriculture and livestock keeping. Market sector: includes consumers and distributors of the city and environs agriculture and livestock products and providers of goods and services to the farmers and keepers.

NEFSALF Bulletin January 2005

A better way to contribute toward improvement of well-being!

NESALF Bulletin published by Mazingira InstituteTel: 254 020 4443219/26/29 PO Box 14550 Nairobi 00800 email: mazinst@mitsuminet.com Website: www.mazinst.org

Issue No. 1 January 2005

B U L L E T I NNairobi and Environs Food Security, Agriculture and Livestock Forum Nairobi and Environs Food Security, Agriculture and Livestock Forum

NEFSALF

The NEFSALF Community Sector, among other actors, comprises farmers and livestock keepers from several different parts of the city and environs. They are both individuals and members of groups of varying numbers.

The Forum's objective to 'facilitate organizing groups and building networks at the community level' was accomplished with the establishment of the Farmers Network and Steering Committee.

The Steering Committee is composed of eleven members representing various groups and locations and diversity of farming activities. Gender balance is ensured. The Committee's responsibilities include: monitoring progress with the aid of the workplan,

Frequent meetings are convened between Mazingira Institute, the Forum Focal Point, Steering Committee and necessary stakeholders to deliberate on the activities to be undertaken by the Forum. Reports are kept of all the proceedings of the Steering Committee and are available to anyone interested in the deliberations.

The Farmers Network so far has eighty members, both men and women engaged in diverse agriculture and livestock keeping practices from various locations in the city and environs. The membership, which is free, is growing steadily. These members in turn belong to over twenty groups. They range from five to a hundred members.

NEFSALF Farmers Network

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A youth group of farmers tending to kale (sukuma wiki). Behind are bananas they planted. They grow a variety of fruits and vegetables

in the city.

At a meeting of the Community Sector of the Forum, an urban livestock keeper shares his opinion about farming and food security in the city

Photos: Alex Njenga

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expanding the network, facilitating the participation of the farmers in the Forum meetings and acting as a communication channel.

A flower farm in the environs of Nairobi. A government extension officer demonstrating to the farmer how to check for diseases

and pests in her plants.

Horticultural organic farming in the environs of Nairobi. The farmer, (extreme right) shows visitors her cabbages, onions, lettuce and parsley.

She supplies to outlets that sell organic produce around the country.

A farmer who practices organic farming in the suburbs of Nairobi. He cultivates maize and other crops.

techniques learned and to determine areas of further intervention.

In 2004, fifty urban farmers and livestock keepers were trained. They were male and female, individual farmers or farmers belonging to groups from all over the city and environs. Three training courses have been planned for 2005.

The courses, organized by Mazingira Institute, are being conducted with the assistance of t h e P r o v i n c i a l L i v e s t o c k Extension Coordinator and Provincial Extension Officers from the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development and the Ministry of Agriculture.

The courses, lasting eight days each, teach elementary skills in Group Dynamics, Record Keeping and Gross Margins, Crop Husbandry, Livestock Husbandry, and include on-site visits.

Site visits are carried out to the farms of the participants prior to each training course to assess the situation on the ground, and consequently to incorporate the farmer's specific needs into the course topics. Site visits are also conducted one month after the training course to survey the farmer's progress in implementing new

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The start-up phase of the Forum for 2004, comprised such goals as: drive the sectoral mix and interactions; acquire and target relevant knowledge and; monitor process and evaluate outcomes. The related activities included: conducting several sessions of the Forum during the year; conducting sessions between community groups and the Nairobi provincial livestock and agriculture extension service offices; conducting sessions between community groups and the Nairobi City Council, conducting sessions between the community groups and civic organizations, conducting a study on the policy issue of regulation of agriculture and livestock keeping in the city and environs, producing reports continuously on the process and activities and evaluating the impact of the first year of operation.

The results accomplished so far include several multi sectoral and multi stakeholder meetings of the Forum, the creation of a farmers and livestock keepers network and steering committee, elementary training courses for the farmers and livestock keepers conducted by the provincial agriculture and livestock extension service officers, embarking on a research study on abating the health risks of livestock keeping and documentation of the process. The sectoral mix and cooperation anticipated by the Forum is evolving in different ways around the activities of the Forum.

Development process of the Forum The process occurred in three phases: Inquiry Phase – which included two scoping studies carried out in Nairobi (the capital city) and Kisumu (an urban city on the shores of Lake Victoria); Establishment Phase – in which a series of workshops were held wherein the idea to develop a Forum emanated and the steps to determine its functioning and maintenance worked-out and; Operational Phase – where the activities of the Forum according to the workplan were initiated.

Inquiry Phase: the ground for the Forum is clearedIn May and October 2002, Mazingira Institute published the results of two scoping studies it carried out in Nairobi and Kisumu. The former was a “Scoping Study of Urban and Peri-Urban Poor Livestock Keepers in Nairobi” and the latter a “Scoping Study on Interactions between Gender Relations and Livestock Keeping.” The Institute was commissioned to conduct the studies by Natural Resources International (NRI) UK under its Department for International Development Livestock Production Programme (DFID-LPP). The aim of the Nairobi scoping study was to determine the issues facing poor livestock keepers in the urban and peri-urban environs of the city. The study provided information on, among other findings, the characteristics of livestock keepers, livestock species and constraints, knowledge deficiencies and research opportunities, public health and animal welfare and policies associated with livestock keeping and the environment.

The purpose of the Kisumu scoping study was to acquire relevant information on the interactions between gender relations and livestock keeping in the city. The focus was

The Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Nairobi, in collaboration with NEFSALF is conducting a research study on the risks associated with livestock keeping in slums in Nairobi. The study site is Kibera. It enhances the Forum's goal to acquire and target relevant policy knowledge about urban agriculture and livestock keeping. The study leaders are Dr. J. K. Wabacha, Senior Lecturer, and Prof. Njenga Munene.

The study, currently underway in Kibrea concerns zoonoses. It is entitled “An analysis of community health risks in relation to zoonoses in a slum setting in Nairobi.”

A second study is proposed as a follow-up. It will focus specifically on “The prevalence of human Brucellosis among patients attending health facilities in Nairobi, with special emphasis in Kibera.”

The study on zoonoses involves: interviewing communities to assess the extent of the presence of zoonotic diseases around Kibera; an analysis of existing records on zoonotic diseases in hospitals; testing livestock for specific diseases and; dissemination of the findings to the Forum.

The study on Brucellosis will determine the level of Brucellosis among patients with flu like symptoms in health facilities in Kibera. At a participatory meeting of stakeholders on the topic, livestock keepers and private and public health service providers in Kibera, and Government health and veterinary officials, discussed their prospective participation in the study once it is initiated.

For more information contact: DR. J. K. Wabacha, tel: 020 630451/4, fax: 020 632059, email: wabachaj@yahoo.com or, Prof. Njenga Munene: tel: 020 630451/4, fax: 020 632059, email: njengamunene@yahoo.com

Dr. J. K. Wabacha and Prof. Njenga Munene– Faculty of Veterinary Science, UoN, elaborating the health risks studies at a meeting of

the Forum. Flanked by Dr. Diana Lee Smith– Regional Coordinator, Urban Harvest, Dr. Wyn Richards– Manager, DFID– LPP

and Davinder Lamba– NEFSALF Coordinator.

to improve gender-based division of labour, inequality between males and females in power and resources, and gender biases in rights and entitlements to increased productivity, remuneration and development of women livestock keepers. Other city studies commissioned were conducted in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Kampala, Uganda.

The findings from the studies revealed the need to convene different stakeholders, both directly and indirectly, involved in urban agriculture and livestock keeping from the cities in which the studies were commissioned. This resulted in a “Workshop on Urban Livestock Keeping for Improved Livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa,” held in Nairobi in March 2003. It was organized by NRI in association with Mazingira Institute and Resource Urban Agro Forestry (RUAF) Netherlands, with support from DFID-LPP and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative (FAO-PPLPI). Municipal and national government representatives, urban farmers and civic and community organizations from Nairobi, Dar-es-Salaam, Addis Ababa and Kampala as well as various international bodies and donors attended the workshop.

The workshop saw the appointment of City Focal Points and the formation of a City Forums Network between the cities represented and the City Focal Points.

The training courses were initiated to fulfill the Forum's objective to 'facilitate access by the community to appropriate provincial and municipal services.' The project came about as a result of the feedback obtained by a simple survey carried out by Mazingira Institute, the Forum Focal Point, involving members of the NEFSALF Farmers Network. It determined that lack of knowledge and skill are the most pressing issues for urban farmers.

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Sheep shelter from the sun beside a house in Soweto, one of Nairobi’s informal settlements

Young man feeding his ducks by the road in Kibera, Nairobi’s largest informal settlement

Farmers and livestock keepers together with trainers fromthe Nairobi Provincial Extension Services of Ministry of Livestock

and Fisheries Development and Ministry of Agriculture, and members of NEFSALF Secretariat, at Mazingira Institute.

An elated farmer receives a certificate from Dr. Wyn Richards – Manger, DFID-LPP for successfully completing the Elementary Training Course

on Urban Agriculture and Livestock Keeping

Urban Agriculture and Livestock Keeping Training Courses

Demonstration of ‘multi-storey gardening’

to show farmers how to grow vegetables in

tight spaces

Creation of relevant information and knowledge to abate health

risks

A session of group work was conducted in order to identify priority research topics to be funded by the ISG. The City Forum Focal Points would choose research topics relevant to them and submit concept notes to their DFID country offices along with proposals for initiating Forum activities.

At a post workshop meeting in November 2003 involving the Nairobi and Kisumu Forums, the Focal Points prepared project proposals to submit to DFID for the year ahead. The Nairobi Forum officially adopted the Sectoral Mix and Cooperation Model, Intent Structure and Workplan (start-up Phase 2004) as the bases fo r i t s func t ion ing and maintenance. This marked the beginning of the operation of NEFSALF.

Operational Phase: The Forum begins to sproutIn January 2004, Mazingira Institute with support from NRI, organized the “NEFSALF Communi ty Sec to r

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Mazingira Institute was selected the City Focal Point for Nairobi to develop the city forum.

Establishment phase: the seeds are sownIn early September 2003, the Nairobi and K i s u m u F o r u m s h e l d o n e - d a y consultations to deliberate upon the Forum objectives and to ascertain the categories of stakeholders to participate in the Forum activities. The objectives of the Forums outlined were to: further the development of the Forum; initiate its functioning; work-out its modality and maintenance; enhance collaboration with the Ministry of Planning and National Development on its Urban Food Supply and Distribution Systems (UFSDS) and UPA initiatives; strengthen the City Forums Network; and enhance cooperation between the Network and the International Support Group (ISG). The outcomes of the Nairobi Forum consultation were the Sectoral Mix and Cooperation Model, Intent Structure and work plan (start-up Phase 2004). The consultations were in preparation of the “workshop of the city and Environs Food Security, Agriculture and Livestock Forums for Nairobi and Kisumu.”

The workshop took place at Mazingira Institute at the end of September. DFID-LPP provided the financial support to convene the pre workshop consultation, the workshop itself and a post workshop meeting that followed in November. The workshop was arranged along sessions related to the Forum objectives. Forty-two participants attended including representatives from the Nairobi community, government and market sectors, the Kisumu community and government sectors, the Dar-es-Salaam, Addis Ababa and Kampala Focal Points and the ISG comprising DFID-LPP, FAO-PPLPI and Urban Harvest.

Meeting.” The objective of the meeting was to facilitate organizing groups and building networks at the Forum community level by conducting appropriate sessions between the c o m m u n i t y g r o u p s a n d c i v i c organizations. The outcome of the meeting was the formation of a NEFSALF Farmers Network and its Steering Committee. The Steering Committee is composed of eleven members representing various groups, spatial distributions and farming activities and respecting gender balance.

Currently the Farmers Network has eighty registered members – both men and women engaged in diverse agriculture and livestock keeping practices from various locations around the city and environs. These members in turn belong to over twenty groups, which range from five to a hundred members.

In March 2004 the “Cities Feeding Programme” of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), together with the Urban Harvest programme of CIP/CGIAR conducted a three-week regional training course on urban agriculture. Seven teams from various cities across Africa participated in the course. The city teams included Accra (Ghana), Kumasi (Ghana), Nairobi (Kenya), Kisumu (Kenya), Kampala (Uganda), Msunduzi (South Africa) and Bamende (Cameroon). Each team had one member from the municipality or local government, one member from a research institute and one implementer of urban agriculture and livestock keeping.

The modules covered in the training were: Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture, History and Dynamics; Health impacts of Urban Agriculture (UA); UA Crop Production Systems; UA Production and Marketing Systems; Solid Waste Management and UA; and Integration of UA into Urban Planning.

Zarina Ishani, Programme Officer, Mazingira Institute and Dr. Diana Lee-Smith, Regional Coordinator, Urban Harvest, were the moderators for the ‘Gender’ block of Module 4. They dealt with “Gender Analysis and Concepts and Gender and the International Human Rights Framework’ block in the course. In addition, they presented research methodology on gender disaggregated data and a case study of Kisumu, Kenya.

A joint session by Urban Harvest and NEFSALF was thheld at Mazingira Institute on 17 March. It was on

NEFSALF farmers interact with participants of Anglophone Africa Regional Training Course on Urban Agriculture

‘Policy, Legal and Planning Framework for UA’ (Module 4). Davinder Lamba, NEFSALF Coordinator and Executive Director of the Institute, presented the ‘Policy System Model and the Policy-Making Process’ framework.

The purpose of the session was to enable the training course participants to have a face-to-face interaction with members of NEFSALF, specifically from the Farmers Network, on problems relating to the farmers. Dr. George Nasinyama, University of Makerere, Uganda, the

Module 4 team leader, introduced the concept of a non-premeditated role-play involving the participants. The theme for the role-play was chosen from the presentations made by five farmer’s groups about the challenges they face in urban agriculture and livestock keeping. The role-play was conducted between the farmers and the various stakeholders present, who assumed their r e a l l i f e r o l e s . T h e stakeholders were an NGO, a farmer, a policy analyst, a researcher, a knowledge specialist, a politician, a gender mainstreamer, a city

planner, and a consumer.

The role play clearly showed that stakeholders often do not go beyond their own interests, and inadvertently leave out the perspectives of other stakeholders for the well-being of the commons.

Participants from the Anglophone Africa Regional Training Course and NEFSALF farmers engage in role-play as part of a module to learn about the attitudes of various stakeholders toward urban agriculture.

NEFSALF BulletinEditor

Davinder LambaDesign

G. Mutinda

Contributors Zarina IshaniZaynah Khanbhai

Published by Mazingira Institute with support from DFID–Livestock Production Programme (LPP), NRI.

Printed by Printfast (K) Ltd.

Frequent meetings are held between the Forum Focal Point, Steering Committee and necessary stakeholders to monitor the progress of the Network and to deliberate upon the activities to be undertaken.

Currently the Forum is facilitating access by the community to appropriate provincial and municipal services through an elementary training course on urban agriculture and livestock keeping. The course is being conducted with the assistance of the Nairobi Provincial Livestock Extension Coordinator and several provincial livestock and agriculture extension officers from the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development and the Ministry of Agriculture (see Box on page 2).

The Forum is also targeting policy-relevant information and knowledge through the initiation of a research project focusing on the “Analysis of community health risks in relation to zoonoses from livestock keeping in a slum setting in Nairobi.” The study site is Kibera. The research, currently underway, is being conducted by Dr. James Wabacha and Prof. Njenga Munene of the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, University of Nairobi, in collaboration with NEFSALF (see Box page 2).

The progress of the Farmers Network and training courses, research initiative and related Forum activities will be detailed in the next edition of the bulletin.

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A cattle pen in Mathare Valley, the sprawling informal settlement in Nairobi. Livestock keeping as food security and for income is a growing activity in urban areas.

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NEFSALF Bulletin January 2005

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