Heaven's Angels promoting food security and nutrition in rural Kenya

Heaven's angels Rider Agnes Baraza utilises her motorbike to deliver health products and education within her community of Matayos, in the Busia region of western Kenya. She is also channelling her passion for innovative farming techniques to boost local food security and nutrition.

Many people in this rural area rely on small family gardens for their food supply. When common garden pests strike, they can wipe out entire family crops and threaten the local food supply.

Utilising her motorbike to conduct community outreach, Agnes has been promoting what's known as ‘push – pull’ pest management, an innovative organic farming technique that improves harvests even in drought conditions, ensuring food security and good nutrition across communities. As a result of these efforts, almost every household in Agnes's region has prepared a kitchen garden and is utilising her improved farming techniques with astounding results.

The 'push-pull' method is a farming technique in which farmers plant Napier grass and Desmodium legumes interspersed along with their primary crop.

Desmodium is a natural insect repellent that 'pushes' away would-be pests. Meanwhile, Napier grass attracts, or 'pulls', pests to lay their eggs on the grass's sticky leaves. The plant then produces a glue-like substance that traps and kills the larvae.

In addition, desmodium roots produce natural chemicals that suppress the growth of certain harmful weeds. Also, as a legume, desmodium naturally enriches farm land by fixing nitrogen in the soil.

As many of us begin planting our own vegabable gardens, we should take the lead from Agnes for sustainable, organic pest control methods!

As we all know, the best part of gardening is the harvest. Why not try one of these easy to make traditional Kenyan recipes utilising the crops grown by Agnes and her neighbours.

East African Sweet Pea Soup:
http://www.ivu.org/recipes/african/east-j.html

Githeri, traditional Kenyan corn and beans:
http://www.whats4eats.com/vegetables/githeri-recipe

Kunde, traditional Kenyan tomatoes and black eyed peas:
http://www.whats4eats.com/vegetables/kunde-recipe