CIRNA project inception meetings held in Uganda and Kenya
In the last two months, several inception meetings were held to launch the project CIRcularity of Nutrients in AgroecoSystems and co-benefits on animal and human health (CIRNA) in Uganda and Kenya.
The CIRNA project is dedicated to developing and promoting manure management practices that are endorsed by farmers, addressing critical environmental, health, and economic issues while contributing to sustainable development goals.
The purpose of the inception meetings was to introduce the project to government officials and other stakeholders. We highlighted the roles of each of the partners and how we are foreseeing collaboration with government officials and farmer representatives.
These included several meetings at the national level in Uganda (Kampala, 5 November 2024) and sub-national level in Kenya (Embu, Siaya, and Nandi between 11-14 November 2024) and Uganda (Mpigi, Mukono, and Buikwe, 21-24 January 2025).
Project background
Our research focuses on identifying effective manure management strategies for smallholder farmers and exploring the trade-offs and synergies within an agroecological framework. Furthermore, the project aims to influence policy by offering evidence-based recommendations derived from the research findings.
The CIRNA project is funded by the Solution-oriented Research for Development (SOR4D) programme, a joint funding instrument between the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). The project is being implemented by a consortium of partners from academia (Makerere University and Maseno University), research (ILRI, FAO and Agroscope), and non-governmental organizations (Regenerative Africa, Women Farmers Association of Kenya, and Veterinaires Sans Frontieres Germany).
Uganda inception meetings
The country-level launch in Uganda was attended by high-level stakeholders from the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE), the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries (MAAIF), and the Ministry of Health (MoH). Representatives from academia, including Busitema, Nkumba, and Makerere Universities were also present, along with district representatives from veterinary and environmental departments.
There were presentations from ILRI scientists Sonja Leitner, who provided a brief overview of the project; Emily Ouma, who discussed ILRI’s work in Uganda; and Wanyama Ibrahim, who presented on ongoing manure management efforts conducted by ILRI.
Derick Senyonga from MWE presented the current policy and legal framework for manure management in Uganda, and Constantine Katongole outlined the research that students from Makerere University will be undertaking. Furthermore, the consortium members based in Uganda—Regenerate Africa, VSF Germany, and ILRI—highlighted their roles in the project.
As a response to our presentations, we are delighted to note that the Ugandan Ministry of Health has committed to including our manure health-related innovations in its training manuals. Additionally, an academician from Busitema University, Moses Isabirye, has initiated the process of developing a soil policy for Uganda and is looking forward to collaborating with us to incorporate our innovations into the policies.
This week, we are conducting the district-level inception meetings in Uganda in the study districts Mpigi, Mukono, and Buikwe.
Kenya inception meetings
The meetings in Kenya were attended by high-level participants from the county governments, including the county director for agriculture, the county director for livestock, extension staff, and university staff. During the meetings held in the three counties, ILRI’s Ibrahim Wanyama gave a presentation about the project, detailing how the county extension staff and farmers would be involved. He emphasized the measures in place to ensure continuity of the innovations after the project ends by building the capacity of local scientists and involving extension workers in development. Next, Martin Barasa from VSFG expounded on how the project will be particularly beneficial because of knowledge sharing between Uganda and Kenya.
Some interesting observations that we made during the meeting were that Embu county already promotes circular manure management in the form of vermicomposting. In our research, we plan to interview the promoters of these technologies and the farmers who have adopted them to learn more about potential constraints and opportunities.
And in Siaya, the county fisheries officer revealed that fish farmers are using manure as fish feed and noted that this should be explored further to evaluate potential health issues associated with this practice.
In Nandi, we learned that the demand for livestock manure is high because cash crops such as coffee and avocado require a significant amount of manure. Under the National Agricultural Value Chain Development Project (NAVCDP), it was found that inadequate management practices leads to poor quality manure, so a lot is needed for fertilization. This raises costs and leaves little manure for food crops. We are convinced that improving manure management through the CIRNA project will help in addressing these needs and making more and better-quality manure available to farmers.
Outlook
We are very happy that the project received endorsement from all involved stakeholders in Uganda and Kenya, particularly from government representatives. Because the innovations we are co-developing are highly relevant for local farming communities, the stakeholders pledged to continue supporting us and are looking forward to our research findings as guidance to their planning.
The next step is to organize field workshops in respective districts to introduce the project to farmers and their representatives because farmer engagement is a key component of the CIRNA project. Then we will conduct household surveys to get a better picture of current manure management practices on the farms.
Based on our previous research, we observed that women and children are deeply involved in the day-to-day handling of manure but are often left out of the decision-making processes. Therefore, under this project, both men and women, as well as children, will be actively involved, and guidelines will address gender and youth.
We will also collect manure samples and analyse them for plant nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, short NPK) and manure-borne pathogens (for example, Salmonella, Ascaris worms, and Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli). This will give us the foundation to develop laboratory and on-farm experiments to test best-bet manure management interventions that reduce health risks while maintaining good fertilizer quality and minimizing environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible.
Read more about the project and our partners and donors here:
