WHAT
WE DO
OUR WORK.
In Kenya, the national electrification rate is estimated at between just 18% and 26%. Small-scale farmers, like the majority of the country, are among those living in energy poverty, especially on their rural, dispersed plots.
Electricity is often the cheapest and most efficient form of energy for pumping water and irrigating crops, but without access to it farmers have to rely on diesel and petrol pumps for lifting both surface water and shallow groundwater. These fuels are not only pollutants to the environment but are also expensive and difficult to access when the household is located far from markets.
Of the potential renewable sources, Kenya has harnessed only about 30% of its hydropower sources, approximately 4% of the potential geothermal resources and much smaller proportions of proven wind and solar power potentials.
With Kenya's agriculture sector contributing to 62.8% of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy presents itself as one of the best solutions for achieving sustainability for both the smallholder farmer and the environment.
Renewable
Energy
The majority of Kenyan farmers still rely on farming methods that have been passed down through generations, however the farmers of today inhabit a rapidly changing environment to those that came before them.
Most will acknowledge this change but deviating from what they know seems like an almost insurmountable task, one that could be costly, time consuming and requiring awareness and expertise - all factors that are low in the daily priorities of these farmers who are focussed on hand to mouth.
We aim to break down these barriers by building and instructing on improved techniques, from more efficient irrigation methods that reduce water waste and improve growth to drought-resistant seeds to better land and soil management, such as agro-forestry and terracing.
They will not only assist the small-scale farmer in increasing and preserving their crop yield, but it will also contribute to improving ecosystems and combatting environmental issues such as degradation of land and desertification.
Irrigation & Farming Methods
Little Feat recognises the many challenges that farmers in rural Kenya face, the biggest of those being a lack of water, energy, food and money.
Our organisation wants to address each of these issues in turn. Working with small agricultural communities, we aim to improve water access through renewable energy, implement more efficient, cost effective and environmentally friendly farming techniques and provide both practical and skill-based training.
We hope to be able to give smallholder farmers a greater ability to produce what they need and create a more sustainable future.
Climate change means that rainfall in Kenya is becoming increasingly erratic. Weather patterns that historically categorised into long rains March - May and short rains September - October are now extremely difficult to predict, not only their onset but also the amount of rainfall expected and its duration. This unpredictability makes it difficult to farm and confidently expect a good harvest.
However when the rains do come, many farmers are ill-equipped to take advantage of them, inadequate knowledge in water harvesting techniques and a lack in methods of water storage mean most of the rainfall is wasted.
We want to equip these farmers with the tools, facilities and know-how that they need so that they might better be able to capitalise on natural rainfall and reduce their reliance on weather patterns.
Water
Harvesting
Due to a combination of the arid nature of their land, a heavy reliance on rain-fed agriculture, a lack of financial security and an ignorance of other farming methods, Kenyan farmers are ill-equipped to embrace other routes of farming.
We therefore aim to incorporate a comprehensive agricultural training programme that is both practical and skill-based, essential in enabling new opportunities for smallholders’ farms and their futures.
As the saying goes, give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for life.