By MANGOA MOSOTA

Six years ago, a leading world economist described little known Sauri Village in Nyanza as plagued by hunger and desolation.

"Sauri is beset by hunger, HIV/Aids, and malaria. The situation is far grimmer than expected, but also salvageable," said Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute, Columbia University in US.

Prof Sachs is also the UN Secretary General Special Advisor on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Sachs made the comments when he toured Sauri Village in Gem District.

Spurred by the sharp-pointed description, the area and 10 other sub-locations in the district have made remarkable progress in achieving MDGs, and fighting hunger and alleviating extreme poverty — the first MDG goal.

It was a surprise when a Government team visited the area last week during national celebrations to mark this year’s World Food Day. Today, the story is one of optimism and a case study in the anatomy of a people’s determination to conquer against all odds.

tour of the area

The team, led by Agriculture Secretary Wilson Songa, says farmers in other parts of Nyanza Province should learn the skills and technical-know of Sauri Millennium Project (MVP) as the first safeguard against perennial food shortage in a region with over three million residents.

Maize production

"If this area has increased its maize production from three sacks per acre to over in just under three years, why can’t other parts of Nyanza do the same?" posed Dr Songa.

The team visited Nyamninia Primary School in Yala. Ordinarily the epitome of crop diversification, the institution produces food for the school-feeding programme and sells surplus.

The school has five dairy cows with three currently producing 32 litres of milk daily.

Millicent Okinyi, the head teacher, says seven litres of milk are allocated to 210 children under Early Childhood Development programme at the school daily.

"We harvest about 10 bunches of banana per week. The pupils take a meal of banana twice a month. We also farm in horticulture," Ms Okinyi says.

The school also buys chicks from local farmers at Sh50 and sell them at maturity after eight weeks at between Sh400-Sh500 at the local market.

"I am not only a teacher, but an accomplished, thanks to Sauri Millennium Project. I have a one and half acre piece of land from which I harvested 34 bags of maize last year," says the 40-year old and mother of two.

Ms Okinyi says she used to harvest less than 10 bags of maize from the same parcel of land just four years ago.

Sauri Millennium Project has 70,000 people under its programme and has increased maize production threefold since its inception three years ago.

A report on the progress of the project indicates that in efforts to meet the eight MDGs, the yield of the crop has tripled from eight bags an acre to 24 in three years.

The Sauri Millennium Project agriculture co-coordinator Wily Diru says there are about 13,000 farmers engaged in diverse farming activities.

The diversification involves crops such as maize, banana, and cassava. Others are horticulture, dairy farming, goat farming, bee-keeping, fish farming and running of tree nurseries. Diru says there are 800 beehives with about 250 farmers actively engaged in the activity.

"We have also started producing yoghurt and Mala milk at Yala. By the end of this year, we expect to go commercial, after we acquire licences from Kenya Dairy Board, Public Health department and Kenya Bureau of Standards," he says, adding that currently 60-100 litres of milk are being processed daily.

"Last year, we harvested 18 sacks per acre, not a very good harvest largely attributed to drought and intermittent hailstones. This year, we expect about 22 sacks from an acre," Diru says.

In the first year of the project, farmers got subsidies for input, such as seeds and fertilisers. After this window, they started taking loans to purchase the inputs.

Repayment of loans

"Initially, we had a problem with repayment of loans advanced by financial institutions. But currently, repayment stands at about 93 per cent," says Diru.

The changing fortunes of the 13,000 farmers are hugely credited to increased use of fertilisers, certified seeds, proper spacing and improved marketing.

"Most of the farmers have less than half of an acre, but we have taught them how to increase their yield with limited land," says Diru, adding that there are 65 farmers engaged in banana farming through tissue culture.

A report titled Status of MDGs Indicators After Three Years and Way Forward, shows that 80 per cent of the population is food secure, with between 15 and 20 per cent requiring support as they are buffered in extreme poverty.

There are four million Kenyans who require emergency food throughout the year. Dr Songa says a decade after world leaders committed to half hunger by 2015; Kenya has a long way to go.

"We still need to give our farmers more support to increase their production. Besides, irrigation farming will play a role in achievement of food security."

Dr Agusta Abate of UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) says the world has abandoned the agricultural sector for more than three decades.

"For 30 years, agriculture had been neglected.

Fortunately, it is now back on the global agenda. It needs political will for us to overcome hunger," says Abate, FAO deputy country representative.

Sachs, with a team of researchers from New York, US and Kenya worked with Sauri villagers in July and August 2004 to identify needs and intervention strategies.

Now they would be elated to see progress in the area.