Category: News

Urban Farming Through Agroecological Technologies

In every food conference today, there is a tract on urban farming; there are participants and speakers referring to themselves as urban farmers. If you google “urban agriculture”, you will find thousands of results. Urban farming is clearly in the mind and eyes of many individuals, community groups, environmentalists and even NGOs. That’s great, but what does it all mean, what is urban farming and why all the interest now? The term “Urban farming” may sound like an oxymoron, but the concept has gone from being unimaginable to a real solution food security. Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT) has been at the core of promoting this emerging solution to food security through its trainings on agroecological practices and that forms the basis for our story of the week. We focus on Mrs. Gaudensia Musanga, a business lady residing with her family on a small plot at the Shibuye market center in Shinyalu, Kakamega County. Living in a predominantly farming community, Musanga felt disadvantaged having to buy food when most people got […]

Das ist für deutsche Sprecher. BvAT war in den Schweizer Medien

The Biovision Foundation marked its 20th anniversary of supporting people in developing regions and providing real help. During these celebrations, Biovision used the 3rd week of November 2018 to reflect on its work in Africa. Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT) work also featured and it was trending in the Swiss media. This is an article that featured in the Swiss media Article about Biovision Projects

BvAT and Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) collaboration grows stronger

From L to R: Robert Nyikuli (BvAT Finance Manager), Kinyua Nyamu (CBA, Treasury), Peter K. Mwaniki (Relationship Manager, Corporate Business), Judy Mbethe (Senior Relationship Manager, Corporate Banking), Dr. David Amudavi (BvAT Executive Director) and Raphael Agung’ (Treasurer, Kenya Treasury) In the recent past, the Bank – NGO relationship hadn’t been one of the best with many NGOs being distrustful of how banks operate. However, there is growing urgency for the two institutions to work more closely together to add value to the services they render to their clients given their common niche in the arena of economic and sustainable development. Since its inception in 2009, Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT) has had a principal financial partner in the Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA). A partnership that has seen BvAT conveniently carry out its transactions such as paying its staff, converting currencies and transferring funds to partners implementing collaborative project activities across several countries in Africa. This relationship has kept growing and improving over time. On the 24th of October 2018, BvAT […]

Combating Climate Change With Agroforestry

“The best time to plant trees was 20 years ago, but the send best time to plant trees in now” so goes the adage. The current challenges faced in the agricultural sector emanate from the effects of climate change which are directly linked to deforestation. Mitigating and even reversing this dangerous trend is inevitable if we must save our food production systems keep the world food secure. Aping from the president Kenyatta’s directive on a 1.8 billion national tree planting drive, Biovision Africa Trust and PELUM Kenya recently held a workshop to; i. Enhance the capacities of smallholder farmers and extension agents on agroforestry practices in Western Kenya ii. Establish a strategy on establishing community nurseries. The agroforestry project is implemented under the auspices of SSNC and it is aimed at ‘Improving sustainable farming practices of smallholder farms in Western Kenya through enhanced integration of agroforestry practices by 2019’. The workshop was conducted after a due diligence was conducted and participating groups identified. The project works with groups to maximize […]

Biovision Africa Trust Holds the West Africa Key Stakeholders Workshop for the Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative in Cotonou, Benin.

Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT) as an Executing Agency of the Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) Initiative in Africa is hosting the second 5-day workshop for 40 participants from Western Africa (Nigeria, Mali, Senegal and Benin) from 13th -17th August, 2018 at the Riviera Hotel, Cotonou, Benin. This follows a successful recent workshop held in Machakos, Kenya for partners and stakeholders from Eastern Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania). In his welcome remarks Professor Simplice Davo Vodouhe, from the University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC), Cotonou, thanked the participants for coming and hoped the opportunity would provide a productive and engaging session with the West African partners to share experiences and learn from each other. Mr. Bokonon Ganta Aimé, the Chair of the Benin EOA National Steering Committee welcomed the participants too to Benin and to the workshop and looked forward to a successful workshop. Dr. David Amudavi the Executive Director of Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT) also gave his opening remarks and was glad to see good representation from the participating West African […]

Why We Need to Tell Success Stories; BvAT Executive Director Dr. David Amudavi

“Success stories are about our dreams,” he begun, “Dream of what you can do to change a farmer and his/her family positively by either increasing production, improving nutrition, improving the environmental condition, improving his/her welfare or the general happiness of the farmer.” According to Dr. David Amudavi, the Executive Director of BvAT, success stories are proof that you have something to offer to the farmer. It is an innovative way of telling others what we are doing as an organization. His advice was, one should dream and act to realize the story because success stories do no happen by accident or chance but rather by design. Dr. Amudavi advised that one should come up with or tap into innovations, necessary technologies and new ideas to help achieve one’s dream. Harmoniously, success stories are not a waste of time but rather a powerful way to carry out extension work, and such stories help farmers to reduce risks in decision making. Success stories help shorten the learning curve, invites support to what […]

Eastern Africa key Stakeholders Workshop on EOA Initiative at Gelian Hotel,Machakos City

The EOA Eastern Africa Stakeholders Planning workshop at Gelian Hotel Machakos

Biovision Africa Trust (BvAT) as an Executing Agency of the Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative in Africa is hosting a 5-day workshop for 40 participants from Eastern Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda) from 30th July 2018 till 3rd August 2018 at the Gelian Hotel in Machakos County. The workshop started on Monday 30th July 2018 with an official opening by the BvAT ED Director, Dr. David Amudavi who underscored the importance of the workshop, with 5 days to engage the participants to discuss and derive the most important areas of focus for consideration in the proposal of the next phase of the Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative. The workshop involves presentations (overview of EOA, EOA Strategic Plan, assessment reports) group discussions and plenary sessions Venancia Wambua EOA Project Manager took the participants through the program- and objectives of the workshop which are; – Partners to review action areas of the Organizational Capacity Assessment (OCA) (2017) and the external evaluation (2017) reports to support strengthening of partners’ capabilities in project implementation […]

BvAT receives a donation of training manuals on sustainable farming practices from FAO Kenya

The Biovision Africa Trust was privileged today to receive a donation of farmers’ training material on sustainable farming practices. Dr. Barrack Okoba of FAO Kenya handed over 60 training manuals on climate smart agriculture to BvAT’s Executive Director, Dr. David Amudavi, to support the organisation’s Outreach programme to use with the smallholder farmers benefiting from BvAT’s projects in Kenya. While handing over the books to Dr. Amudavi, Dr. Okoba said, “Besides the training manual, Climate Smart Agriculture posters too have an elaborate and simplified diagram easily understood by the farmers. I brought them along.” The Climate Smart Agriculture Training Manual for Agricultural Extension Agents in Kenya is authored by Dr. Barrack Okoba. The manual has rich information on sustainable agriculture with well-illustrated diagrams of sustainable farming methods. The materials will be very helpful to BvAT’s Farmer Communication Programme (FCP). The FCP disseminates information on sustainable agriculture with a mission to improve profitability, stewardship and quality of life through the application of better farming practice. “My colleague came across the Climate-Smart […]

From L: Peter Sidler (SDC), David Amudavi (BvAT), Manuel Flury (SDC) and Andi Schriber (Biovision Foundation) at the BvAT Exhibition SDC Conference.

BvAT ED Attends BvAT AGM and SDC Annual Conference in Switzerland

The week of June 24-30 was a busy one for the BvAT Executive Director, Dr. David Amudavi. He attended a BvAT Annual General Meeting (24-25 June), held collaboration partnership meetings with Biovision Foundation and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) (27-28 June) and finally attended the annual SDC/SECO conference whose theme was ‘Developing urban and rural areas sustainably: Two of Switzerland’s priorities in Africa’ held in Berne on 29th June. The conference, which attracted over 700 people, focused on how to develop urban and rural areas sustainably through improving seed systems for farmers and used the example of how SDC is supporting Chad to ensure farmers get high-grade seed of variety that can also better withstand the effects of climate change. Knowledge on seed management, training on how to identify good quality seed, how to maintain quality of seed and how to use quality seed, level of technology and infrastructure very important in this regard. The conference also underscored the fact that towns and cities can offer tangible opportunities […]

The New face of Infonet Database

Infonet-biovision seized the opportunity during the BvAT day on the 12th of July to unleash its revamped new look. The infonet-biovision database has been in place since 2007 giving farmers, trainers, students, and extension workers quick access to up-to-date and locally relevant agricultural information on sustainable farming. Since inception, the Infonet platform has undergone various transformations to make it responsive to user needs and align itself with the changing technological environment. Of great importance, the infonet platform was recently given a face-lift. The platform is now based on Drupal Content Management System (CMS) allowing for breaking down content life cycle into distinct processes; content creation, management, publishing and presentation. These distinct processes make it possible to have multiple persons dealing with the content hence improved turnaround time in relation to creating and updating content. This great revamping is not only good for the management of the site but rather it eases the process of accessing information by users. Key features that came with the revamping are as below; Key features […]