Farmers Without Borders: Partnership Project with OTEPIC
In the spring of 2008, Philip Munyasia travelled from the little village of Kitale, Kenya to Ecology Action’s headquarters in Willits, California to learn GROW BIOINTENSIVE sustainable farming practices with six other interns from around the world. That summer Philip visited the Noyo Food Forest where he met Susan Lightfoot and many new friends at The Learning Garden and was deeply inspired. When he returned to Kenya, he started the Organic Technology Extension and Promotion of Initiative Centre (OTEPIC), which is a registered, community based organization doing grassroots development projects in Kitale.
The Noyo Food Forest has helped to collect donations to buy land that OTEPIC uses as a demonstration centre for GROW BIOINTENSIVE mini-farming methods. Working closely with farmers on food security, soil fertility management and maximizing the usage of locally available resources, they teach how to diversify production and utilize land efficiently and sustainably to make it less vulnerable to climatic and economic instability. They also give special advice to households affected by HIV/AIDS regarding various crops to plant that will bring increased nutrition.