WARM holds a joint course with ETH Zürich

The Department of Water and Agricultural Resource Management (WARM) and ETH Zürich, Switzerland held a joint field course in agriculture from 18^th to 29^th April 2022.
The course focused on farming systems in different agroecological zones found in Embu County. Its objectives were; to (i) assess the level of food and energy security in different farming systems, (ii) establish how households in the County ensure food and energy security, (iii) examine the implications of the strategies undertaken by households to be food and energy secure, and (iv) recommend strategies for improving households’ food and energy security.
To achieve the above objectives, different groups of students were located in three most typical farming systems found in Embu County, namely; the highland farming zone (dairy, coffee, and tea farms) in Kiriari, the lowland semi-arid farming zone (mango and other fruit farms) in Karurumo, and an urban agricultural zone in Embu town. In the first week of the course, the students lived in the farming community to assess soils, on-farm biodiversity, and conduct surveys (both questionnaires and in-depth interviews), to establish the level of food and energy security. The second week was spent at the University of Embu analyzing field data.

The surveys resulted in important findings that the University intends to share with the farmers who were involved in the study and county extension officers for wider dissemination. Key findings included cross-cutting challenges that need addressing to ensure food and energy security. These include; limited access and use of technology due to resource constraints, loss of soil fertility due to erosion and poor farming systems, limited access to green sources of energy, pest and disease problems, and market access challenges.
The next course between the two institutions is scheduled for November 2022.