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Capturing New Market Opportunities for Farmers in the Kikuyu Escarpment

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Overview

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Farmers in the Kijabe landscape, situated on the Kikuyu Forest Escarpment of Kenya where the Central Highlands meet the Great Rift Valley, comprise some 90% of the population. Most grow a diverse combination of cash and subsistence crops and keep some livestock on farms that range from 0.8 to 2 acres in size. Few farmers are self sufficient enough to meet their household needs for education fees, fertilizers and other cash requirements. A prevailing trend toward the degradation of soil and forest resources in this inherently fertile, diverse and productive landscape is recognized by residents of the landscape as well as outsiders concerned about biodiversity conservation. A community based organization called KENVO formed in 2002 to mobilize the vitality and knowledge resources of the youth of Kijabe to help enable residents of the landscape restore their natural resources for the betterment of their livelihoods. KENVO’s ambitions have met with visible success, particularly in forest restoration, and in raising people’s awareness that their concerted actions can make a positive difference in the quality of their lives. KENVO seeks now to amplify its early successes by facilitating the development of marketing strategies that will capture unique values of the landscape in products and ecological services that could be sold to consumers in Kenya’s near-by capitol and to tourists. KENVO seeks assistance in overcoming constraints to the cooperative approach to marketing that would be required, and in developing marketing plans that would help secure the long term ecological and livelihood integrity of the landscape.

 

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