The Kijabe Environmental Volunteers (KENVO): Capturing New Market Opportunities for Farmers in the Kijabe Landscape of Kenya
Sandwiched between wildlife parks rife with internationally awe-inspiring animals, and the Great Rift Valley where some the oldest human remains have been found, the agricultural landscapes of central Kenya’s Kikuyu Forest Escarpment require a subtler eye to appreciate. It is not a story of another Lucy, nor of ostriches and zebras, but it may be the story that links those two, touching as it does on the necessary overlaps of human culture and the survival of biodiversity.
Studded with a mix of trees and farmed fields, the rolling hills of Kijabe ride the steep west-facing escarpment of the Great Rift Valley. The climate here, so close to the equator, is largely determined by altitude, with the rift walls molding the landscape into two comparatively level agro-ecological zones: the lower highlands, beginning 1760m above sea level, and the upper highlands, a full 900 m higher. It is the altitude that impacts the bimodal rainfall patterns and that has extensively shaped the agricultural activities in the district (Mwangi and Matua 2xxx); the semi-arid lower zone averages700mm while the very wet upper zone receives twice that, reliably concentrated in March, April, and May, and again in October and November.
To the east, the slopes continue to rise all the way to Mount Kerita, across the border in Nyandura District. Further east still, well out of site, but both close enough and large enough to exert a tremendous gravitational pull on the landscape, Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi, population 3 million, pressures Kijabe’s people, forests, water, and markets, whispering ‘change’, all night, whispering ‘more’, every day.
The Kikuyu Escarpment Forests capture and filter rainwater, creating an uphill ‘sponge’ that feeds the many rivers and springs that provide water to the local population (Kuria et al., 1997) . The region also supplies a third of the water for domestic use in Nairobi (Akotsi et al. 2006, Kuria and Githiru 2007) as well as serving as a primary source of forest products such as medicinal plants, fuel-wood, charcoal, timber, building and fencing poles, fiber, and wild fruits. Local residents use the forests for grazing land, and return there regularly to important cultural sites. Tourism in the forest generates income for both the local and national economies.
Most of Kijabe’s forests are indigenous, with a small section of exotic trees planted for timber production. The forest hosts a variety of globally important species, including 20 deemed rare, and is particularly rich in bird life. It provides habitat for the globally threatened Abbott’s Starling and other regionally threatened species such as the African Green Ibis, Ayre’s Hawk Eagle, Crowned Hawk Eagle and the Red-Chested Owlet (Bennun, L. and Njoroge 1999).
Nearly 90% of the population in Kijabe is engaged in cultivation, laboring in the fields to feed their families, and harvesting tea and other agricultural products for markets in town, to feed Nairobi’s growing population. The majority of these farms are small scale (0.8 ha, or 2 acres), with each farmer growing a diverse combination of cash and subsistence crops and keeping livestock.
Soils here are historically very deep, well drained, and dark reddish brown in appearance, with many strongly calcareous and saline pockets. The high organic carbon content (3-4%) reflects high levels of applied organic matter and low nitrogen, though phosphorus levels remain average. Farmers in the area use both organic matter and inorganic fertilizers to increase soil fertility.