Projects

Farming God’s Way

Project: Farming God’s Way    Project Leader: Vincent Onono       Location: Dakatcha and Kuvuka

Any farmer will tell you how the soil in a field where the forest has recently been cleared from it is more fertile and productive than a field that has been farmed for several years. FGW seeks to bring back principles found in a natural forest ecosystem that allows the soil to not just retain fertility but even increase over time.

Three principles of Conservation Agriculture

Taking the three basic principles of Conservation Agriculture of zero tillage, mulching and
rotation of crops, and building on these using biblical principles that are also relevant to all walks of life, FGW becomes a tool that is now being widely used across Africa and is producing
remarkable results.

If you think about it, in a forest there is:

1. No disturbance of the soil (= zero tillage),
2. a thick layer of dead leaves etc on the soil surface (= mulching) and
3. amazing diversity of species (= rotation of crops).

God, as the ‘first farmer’ in the Garden of Eden, brings additional principles to the way we should farm – e.g. farming on time: in creation, we see incredible timing that God has put there – from the daily rhythm of day and night and all the associated biorhythms of insects, flowers, birds and animals, to the seasons and the Infinitesimal precision of the rotation of the planets around the sun… etc etc. This means that when farming, we need to take special note of planting on time, weeding in good time etc – in fact those teaching FGW across Africa say the single largest reason for hunger in Africa is farmers wait for the rain to come before they plant… thus planting late.

Train and empower the community

A Rocha is taking the above and several other biblical principles and applying them within the FGW teaching to train and empower community members living in often real hardship
conditions to be able to obtain better productivity from their farms and in so doing learn to
respect and care for the rest of God’s creation around them.

A Rocha, therefore, sees FGW as an innovation that not only focuses on increased food
production but also addresses issues of biodiversity conservation. We look to include within the
FGW training teaching about planting indigenous trees, leaving part of your land fallow for other
parts of God’s creation to flourish in such as butterflies, other insects, flowers, birds and animals and the value of biodiversity not only for agriculture (e.g. pollinators) but in itself as God’s creation which he made with a purpose and which ultimately belongs to him.

Where we work and our training

In Kenya, A Rocha has worked with communities in several parts of the country with projects in
Nairobi, Kajiado and Kilifi Counties. Currently, our focus is in the Dakatcha Woodlands north and
inland of Malindi, and around Arabuko-Sokoke Forest. Training involves taking time through
churches to teach about what the bible says regarding caring for the environment after which a two-day training in the actual FGW method is carried out.

This covers the following topics:

  • The Biblical perspective of farming and creation care.
  • Ecological Interactions (Trees, birds, butterflies, ants, worms and their role in the farm)
  • Principles and practice of
  • Farming God’s Way
  • Natural ways of controlling pests and diseases
  • Natural ways of boosting soil fertility including composting, liquid fertilizers, fertilizer trees among others
  • Energy-saving at the household level

The focus in Dakatcha revolves around the A Rocha Dakatcha Nature Reserve which we are
creating to protect globally threatened species and habitat – in particular the Sokoke Scops Owl and Golden-rumped Sengi (also known as an elephant-shrew). Baseline biodiversity surveys are being carried out by the A Rocha research team while at the same time our community and environmental education team are working with the adjacent communities using the churches and schools as a gateway to reach farmers and families to teach them FGW and overall care for the environment and hopefully stop the destructive practices of charcoal burning and unsustainable logging for timber.