Approaches in addressing food security and nutrition in the context of changing rural-urban dynamics - an initial Concept
Goal:
Maximize food production from available land by channeling adequate human and other resources to rural develpment and food production. Migration into planned settlements in rural areas that is induced by need to create room for improved food production and sharing of social amenities
Objectives:
To reduce and finaly have communities and land owners stop land sub-divisions
To attract youth and good telent into the food production sector
To channel more investments into rural develepment and food production
To make food production more efficient through large scale commercial farming and more use of technology
To increase forest cover, use of renewable energy, water harvesting and conservation technologies.
Major Activities:
To run a 5 year sensitization campaign and mobilize communities to adopt economic lend tenure systems through and avoid further land subdivisions in rural areas into uneconomic production units through County governments, CBOs, Law Society and other professional bodies;
Come up with Settlement and Housing plans with a view to optimizing land use in both rural and urban areas. Such plans will also create room for forests on hilltops and hillsides.
Run a 5 year campaign through schools, churches, colleges and universities to have youth consider food production and rural areas as good sources of employment.
Prepare food production investor guides detailing returns, risks, costs and models for infomed appeal to investors, financial sectors and service sector the food production and rural areas can provide bankable investments,
Hillside and top afforestation campains to improve forest cover and availability of clean water.
Sr. Stephen Omondi Okoth