Sustainable Agriculture Modernization, Orongo Village, Western Kenya

Abstract: Today more than 200 million people are suffering from malnutrition in Africa, a major contributing factor to this is that Africa is the continent, by a large margin, that gets least yield per cultivated hectare. The relatively poor yield is not because Africa has no cultivable land but because of the prevailing agricultural practices. Orongo is a village in western Kenya, where large parts of agriculture are threatened by severe soil erosion problems and two-thirds of the inhabitants are totally dependent on agriculture for food and economic security. Today's agricultural practices have proved inadequate. Organic agriculture is not dependent on high-tech methods or expensive synthetic chemicals to provide a relatively good harvest and has therefore proved to have particularly good potential to increase the harvest of small-scale farmers living under poor circumstances. Organic agriculture relies entirely on natural processes that exist to increase soil fertility. The strengthening of these natural processes is the most important work in Organic agriculture with many long-lasting positive effects and a constant increase of soil fertility as a result. All the different components of organic agriculture have the potential to independently contribute to the desired development, decreased soil erosion and increased resistance of the local ecosystem are common consequences of organic agriculture components. There are many indications that Organic agriculture could provide a sustainable solution to the malnutrition problem in Orongo but to implement such modernization has globally proven difficult. The various components must all be adapted to the local biophysical circumstances, the local need and knowledge level of the farmers concerned. This document describes and analyzes these components from an Orongo perspective and looks at local cultural phenomena that must be considered. For a modernization to organic agriculture to be possible, a combined effort will be necessary, both to raise awareness of Organic agriculture through physical demonstration and classical learning but also provide economic security and incentives for farmers who want to change to Organic agriculture. It is also important to encourage entrepreneurship forces that can help to spread the different components of organic agriculture, components that on their own can contribute to a desired development.