News detail
25/07/2012

Regional Advisory Group of Lake Victoria farmers (Vi Agroforestry) 25-26th July 2012, Kenya

Joseph Anania from Kagera TAMP participated in the Regional Advisory Group (RAG) of Lake Victoria farmers that took place in Kitale (Kenya) from 25 to 26th July 2012. The meeting was organized by Vi Agroforestry - a Swedish development cooperation organisation that works to support farmers in the Lake Victoria Basin. Vi Agroforestry reaches over one million people through training and advice and its mission is to make agroforestry and enterprise development engines of economic growth and poverty reduction. The meeting started with the introduction of members and roles and was followed by the presentation of partners projects (Rwanda Consortium, Uganda Consortium, Kenya Consortium and  Tanzania Consortium). In addition, regional organization who are also members of the Regional Advisory Group gave some presentations on the work they perform with farmer organizations in the region. These organizations include International Council for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), East African Farmers Federation (EAFF), Lake Victoria Basin Commission Secretariat (LVBC) and FAO with Kagera TAMP.

On the second day (25th July), there was a field visit to Kitale project area where farmer organizations are implementing program activities. The RAG members visited Marinda CB/Luchendi SACCO in Ndivisi Division in Bungoma East District. The community based organisation (CBO) has 255 members (37 Male and 218 female and SACCO 167- 51Male and 116 female) with 12 common interest groups. It was noted that the participation of women in the CBOs was excellent and inclusion of men is recommended.