Two questions re water and organic compost

Today I stayed in the house and made phone calls and sent emails…lots of both. Mostly, the communications were to set up meetings. Some of the calls were to try and get answers to some questions that I have. There are two questions I’ve generated from my interviews:

Does Kenya have enough water to support a chemical based agricultural model?
Some say yes and others say no. When I asked folks at AGRA about this they said that they are training farmers to time their plantings with the first rains, so that rain water is used to dissolve the chemicals. This confused me because much of AGRA’s funding (and Gates) is going towards R&D of drought tolerant seeds. AGRA’s VP says, “Africa’s smallholder farmers are in the eye of the climate change storm.” Their R&D work informs us that their forecast for climate change means drought in Africa. Drought means that farmers won’t be able to rely on rains…rains to dissolve chemicals.

I needed to better understand the water situation in Kenya. I called the Director of Irrigation at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation and he gave me the low-down. He said that Kenya has 20 billion cubic meters of renewable water. He also said that after Kenya takes care of people's basic needs (drinking water and household -- toilets, sinks…) there is enough water left over to irrigate 569,250 hectares of cultivated land. These are the basic figures, he wants me to come in on Tuesday morning so that I can hear the whole story and how complex it is.

I checked the CIA’s World Factbook and saw that in 2005 there were 56,925,000 hectares of cultivated land in Kenya. This might explain why Wendy, my host, has a huge tank in her front yard to collect the water that flows to her house only three days a week. I understand that not all 56,925,000+ hectares are under the same type of irrigation. I know that drip irrigation is used and methods for storing rain water, but, the numbers still create a huge disparity and, if all is correct, then Kenya probably doesn’t have enough water to support a chemical based model.

Can Kenyan farmers generate enough organic compost so as to not be dependent on chemicals for soil fertility? (Or, how many farmers and hectares of land can a non-chemical model support?) Same as before, interviewees say yes and no.

Just out of curiosity and inspired by Heather’s report of the Will Allen event this week in Seattle (Will reported that he collects damaged fruits and veggies from wholesalers to make his mountains and mountains of compost) , I called Coca Cola East Africa & Central Africa Ltd and East Africa Brewery Ltd. (EABL).

Coca Cola: Earlier I posted and article about Gates funding Technoserve to connect Coca Cola to Kenyan fruit growers as a source for fruit drinks that are manufactured in Nairobi. I was thinking what does Coca Cola do with all the pulp and other organic waste they generate? Wouldn’t it be great if it were used to create compost to support the organic movement?

East Africa Brewery Ltd.: They are the largest brewery in East Africa, competing with SAB Miller. They are also partnered with Equity Bank who is funded by and partnered with AGRA to help small farmers gain access to credit for the purchase of inputs, livestock and farm equipment. Biggest brewery = tons of organic waste. Same idea I had with Coca Cola. Why not?

I talked with folks in both companies and they were intrigued by my questions, which were simply how much organic waste do you produce and what do you do with it? What are the disposal costs? They both asked me to email the questions and one gave me her cell number in case she didn’t properly answer my questions. We will see.

I realize that there are many variables that impact both of these questions. One is how much more water does a chemical based model use than an agroecological model? What type of agroecological model are we talking about? How is compost being generated currently? Is there a surplus that is being sold to farmers that can’t generate enough of their own? Why can’t they generate enough organic material? Lot’s more…

Heather and I are fortunate because we have connected with organizations, here in Kenya, that are part of a well networked organic movement. We are looking forward to meeting with them and asking them about some of the issues above.

On Wednesday we meet with KOAN, ICIPE, and IFDC. Then we stay with GBIAK for three days. Then we meet with PELUM, ABN and KIOF before we head off to Kitale to meet with Joshua Machinga of Common Ground. Busy week!