Conservation Agriculture; for a Better Living

Success Story: Caroline Gatuura

My name is Caroline Gatuura aged 40 years, married, and blessed with 3 children. I hail from Kamuthetu village, Mwanyni location, Nkondi ward, Tharaka Nithi county. My husband spends weekdays at work. Thus, I am the one managing farming activities together with my children. My agricultural production in the 3 acres inherited by my husband has been experiencing low yields, and therefore not able to sustain my livelihood. Specifically paying of school fees and meeting other needs.

The 3 acres piece of land is near a seasonal river and it’s sloppy. Therefore, during rainy seasons top soil, that is fertile, gets carried away downstream resulting to bare land. Such soil degradation has been one of the reasons for poor yields. In addition, the rainfall is always low, and the amount of soil moisture is lost very fast making the crops wither early due to inadequate moisture to sustain their healthy growth. I used to grow just one type of crop, and this is another reason I had been producing low yield. In one acre I would produce 300kgs of millet through conventional farming.

However, my life has changed since the moment I joined NCCK as a farmer. I have been trained on Conservation Agriculture (CA) principles, financial management and empowered as a woman. Use of previous crop residues, crop rotation, alternating legumes and cereals from one season to another, use of planting basins are key CA principles that have increased my yield of millet from 300 kgs to 1000kgs/acre. In my land, I have also incorporated growing of fruit trees such as mangoes and avocado trees.

I am very grateful to NCCK for the support given to farmers to help us improve our sustainability.