Improved crop varieties benefit smallholder farmers in Kenya
9 July 2010
On the small plot in the photo below, Dinah Kinyua (left), a small-holder farmer in Keriko Village, Kibirichia division, Meru Central District is experimenting with seven improved crop varieties of her favoured staple food crops (maize, beans, Irish potatoes, and cowpea).
RIU Best Bet funding to FIPS-Africa means that smallholders like Dinah can afford to buy the specially developed small packs of seeds. This programme is empowering hundreds of thousands of farmers to see the benefits of research, adopt the use of higher-yielding crop varieties, and increase their food production.
FIPS-Africa is also assisting young people, like Truphena (right), to generate income from selling these varieties to farmers whilst providing advice on their best management.
Dinah Kinyua (left) and Truphena. (May 2010)
9 July 2010
On the small plot in the photo below, Dinah Kinyua (left), a small-holder farmer in Keriko Village, Kibirichia division, Meru Central District is experimenting with seven improved crop varieties of her favoured staple food crops (maize, beans, Irish potatoes, and cowpea).
RIU Best Bet funding to FIPS-Africa means that smallholders like Dinah can afford to buy the specially developed small packs of seeds. This programme is empowering hundreds of thousands of farmers to see the benefits of research, adopt the use of higher-yielding crop varieties, and increase their food production.
FIPS-Africa is also assisting young people, like Truphena (right), to generate income from selling these varieties to farmers whilst providing advice on their best management.
Dinah Kinyua (left) and Truphena. (May 2010)
| Kenyan farmer, Boniface Barasa Wanjala talks to RIUtv about how the FIPS programme, one of RIU’s Best Bets, has helped him and other neighbouring farmers in his district. March 2010 (1:10) |
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Related information
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Bottom-up bottom line business models and the role of development-relevant enterprises Author: Andy Hall April 2010 (PDF 70KB) |
