Description
Farmers Research Network (FRN)
Goal: To harness an established farmer research network to design and implement research to address priority challenges to agriculture through involvement of farmers in the development, testing, and dissemination of suitable agricultural technologies with potential to increase productivity and add value to agriculture, human nutrition and health.
Research Activities
Over the past few years, the project has undertaken several experiments related to issues identified by farmers as priorities. In the first year, trials were conducted on various post-harvest pest management options, including solarization, sun drying, and ash treatments. Carried out the second and third years were trials of sorghum varieties that would grow well under changing climatic conditions and in different local contexts. These included varieties developed at Rongo University, two varieties from Kenya seeds, and some commercial and some farmer varieties. In year three, striga management options were tested, some of which could also improve soil fertility (uprooting, intercropping with desmodium or with legumes, adding manure/compost). In this, the project’s fourth year, bean trials of consumer-preferred varieties are being conducted to identify performance in different contexts.
Project successes
- Transformation in peoples’ lives: empowered farmers groups able to diversify their sources of food security and income
- Use of improved agricultural technologies
- Access to markets through value addition
- Project scale up is evident as farmers have progressively improved their harvest per hectare
Details
To harness an established farmer research network to design and implement research to address priority challenges to agriculture through involvement of farmers in the development, testing, and dissemination of suitable agricultural technologies with potential to increase productivity and add value to agriculture, human nutrition and health