Nienke Jorna
Speeches at Farmers Gathering
There are many aid organizations situated in Siaya County. Some of these aid organizations support local initiatives on agricultural development. One of these projects is the Striga (witchweed) Control project. They organize informational talks on weed protection, to which we were invited and asked to give a small lecture on greenhouse farming. In front of a group of 30 farmers Sybren explained the reason of our visit to Kenya, he described the advantages of greenhouse farming and invited the farmers to our Open House and course. This was greeted with enthusiasm.
Conference
On the 26th of November, a delegation of Dutch, Congolese, Kenyan and other nationalities arrived in Bondo to attend the conference ‘Technology & Management; at the interface of cultures’. The theme addressed issues that were relevant to our project. Thus, we submitted an abstract and were asked to present our findings. It was a great way to share our obtained knowledge with our supervisors, the University and the attendants, and to convince them of the advantages of greenhouse farming and our contribution to sustainable development by using innovative technology.
Brochure
To attract the attention and to inform local farmers, a brochure was designed. It explains the advantages of greenhouse farming, the project and it describes the content of the different modules of the course. It was handed out during our Open House.
Open House
To celebrate the opening of the greenhouse and to create an informal way of knowledge diffusion, an open house was organized. Local farmers, students, staff of JOOUST and employees of the Ministry of Agriculture were given an invitation to the event. A classroom at the university was arranged and food was prepared. Dr. Achuti and Dr. Andika were Keynote speakers and the remainder of the time was filled by our presentations on the different modules of the course. After the speeches, the guests were invited to a nice lunch and there was time for questions and discussion. The after movie of the construction of the greenhouse was shown here as well.
Information Sign at the Greenhouse
To inform people who are passing by the greenhouse, a sign is installed. It includes the names of our partners (TU Delft, JOOUST, the ministry of agriculture and S4S) and a short description of the function of the greenhouse.
