Over 500 Farmers Received Climate-Smart Agriculture Training in Kenya

on December 17, 2024

“You know, if you have food security, if someone has eaten enough food, his thinking capacity grows.” — Samwel Onyango, a sweet potato farmer in Kenya

Sustainable agriculture improves access to nutritious food and is a consistent driver of income generation and improved livelihoods worldwide. The Feed for Knowledge project, led by Rise Against Hunger and Rural Family Hope, provides farmers with climate-smart agriculture training, strengthening the local economy and enhancing long-term food security in southwestern Kenya.

Since the project began in 2022, more than 500 farmers have received training, and the number of smallholder farmers increased from 33 to 95 in the project’s first year. These farmers help meet the nutritional needs of their families and local communities.

Through this project, seven schools have established on-site gardens, where students learn to tend crops like kale, corn and potatoes as members of groups called 4K clubs. Fresh produce from the farmers, suppliers and school gardens is added to school meals daily, providing critical nutrients to the students. Hear firsthand from program participants below to learn more about their impact.

Samwel Onyango, a sweet potato farmer

Samwel, a local sweet potato farmer, received training through the project and has since seen a significant improvement in his health and quality of life. He shared, “The purpose I decided to come into farming sweet potatoes and other crops is just for food security.”

The sweet potatoes Samwel harvests at his farm support students in nearby schools who receive daily meals through the project’s school feeding program. “You know, if you have food security, if someone has eaten enough food, his thinking capacity grows.”

Piyos Musongo Keyo, a local farmer

Since participating in the climate-smart agriculture training program, local farmer Piyos has harvested healthy crops with higher yields. Piyos said, “It has been very beneficial to me and other farmers…I’ll be able to supply the school and get more returns from the farm.”

The improved outcome of his farm not only boosts his livelihood but also ensures his family and the local community have regular access to healthy, nutritious crops. He explains further, “With the good climate conditions, I am able to feed my family.”

Job Miruka, a poultry farmer

With the increased demand for eggs and their rich nutrients, Job began a poultry farm and received training through the project. He shares how it’s been a reliable agribusiness that continues to thrive and how it continues to support the lives of many people in his community, including students at participating schools where eggs are distributed and served with daily meals. Job said, “You can even see when you look around at the children the health status has improved because eggs have a lot of proteins.”

Ivone Ogweno, Agronomist at Rural Family Hope

Rural Family Hope’s Agronomist, Ivone, shares that through the Feed for Knowledge project, students receive agriculture training and learn how to grow crops as part of the 4K clubs. She said, “We want to see them have a broader scope of knowledge in agriculture since they are the future pioneers of food production and security.”

She explains further how this impacts the children and their parents’ lives: “Teaching agriculture in schools is important to increase productivity in the villages and the homes they come from.”

Mary Ayieta, Agronomy Teacher at Awendo Primary School

As the Agronomy Teacher at Awendo Primary School, Mary leads the 4K club members who take care of the school garden as their secretary and teaches the students agriculture and nutrition. She shares how the students’ performance in the classroom has improved and how they look forward to hands-on learning through the project’s garden. Mary said, “We grow kale, we grow some other crops like potatoes, and this…has made them independent because they copy that, and they would want to do it at home.”

Each of these farmers and school leaders has experienced the lasting impact of the Feed for Knowledge project. Watch the video below to learn more about the program, its participants and how agriculture has paved the way toward bright futures in Kenya.

As a Hunger Champion, you can help farmers and school leaders build sustainable, nutritious food sources for children and their families. With your partnership, we will continue agriculture initiatives that change communities from within. Will you join us?

Strength, Stability And Hope

The gift that filled Nelly’s table.

“We were yielding very little, and the crops could not sustain us the whole year,” Nelly remembers. As a mother of seven and a farmer with two decades of experience, the stress of inconsistent yields was all-consuming. A poor harvest not only strained her family financially, but also limited their own meals to just two a day. Their story reflects that of many in their fishing and farming village near a lake in the Karonga district of northern Malawi. Here, heavy rainfall makes conventional farming methods nearly impossible. The entire village is, quite literally, saturated in food insecurity — a reality that leaves families struggling to survive season after season without a dependable source of nourishment.

In 2019, Nelly began participating in Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience, a sustainable agriculture project implemented by Rise Against Hunger in partnership with the Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS). The project works with 3,100 smallholder farmers in Malawi’s Karonga and Mzimba districts to strengthen food and nutrition security by improving production methods, nutrition practices and household income.

Just one year later, Nelly was ready to expand the variety of crops on her farm. What land once only produced maize began to flourish with sesame, cowpeas, rice and groundnuts during the rainy season (summer), as well as maize and vegetables during the dry season (winter). Through climate-smart agriculture training, she learned new techniques like manure making, pit planting and mulching, crop rotation and intercropping. Equipped with these tools, Nelly’s farm began to thrive.

After the 2023–2024 growing season, she sold enough produce to purchase an ox cart. Her harvests in 2024-2025 season yielded over 500 pounds of crops, including 22 bags of groundnuts, seven bags of maize, 12 tins of sesame and three bags of rice. With this surplus, she was able to invest in a motorbike, which she now uses to transport African doughnuts (mandasi) that she cooks and sells — creating yet another source of income for her family.

The transformation reaches far beyond her finances. Nelly now has the stability to provide for her husband and children. “I am able to eat different food types, pay school fees for my children and fulfill the visions that I have made with my family,” she beams. “I am now sleeping peacefully without any fears of food or paying school fees for the children.”

Her leadership has also grown. Today, Nelly serves as a leader in the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, teaching other farmers in her district to adopt climate-resilient, labor-saving practices. By sharing her knowledge, she is multiplying her impact — empowering her neighbors to experience the same transformation she has achieved.

Across Nelly’s community, food and economic security are on the rise. Lombani, a government extension officer for the region, explains, “I can see the community is being transformed in the sense that in the area, there is food, income and nutrition security. Development is also happening at the household level.”

Nelly reflects on what it means to invest in holistic programs that address the root causes of hunger: “We are now healthy people. Children are going to school after eating their breakfast, having high yields and different types of crops due to conservation agriculture practices. With the support from the project, we have food, and we can access other food items from the market after selling our produce.”

This is the gift that fills: a future full of stability, strength and hope. It fills tables with food, families with security and communities with the resources to thrive. It’s an investment in futures rooted in resilience and hope.