Nairobi, Kenya, 31 October 2023 – Earlier today, the King visited an innovative City Shamba at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital Urban Agriculture Resource Center in Kayole, Nairobi. The Shamba aims to promote healthy food for hospital patients and acts as a demonstration farm for parents of children in the hospital and school-going children, among other groups, to learn about sustainable urban farming and nutrition.
His Majesty toured the Shamba and heard about its positive impact on the hospital and the local community. The Shamba produces nearly two-thirds of the hospital’s vegetable supply. The King did some harvesting, gathering fresh vegetables to make nutritious meals for hospital patients.
The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) partners with City Shamba in the Zero Hunger Initiative, promoting agroecological urban agriculture as a pathway to freedom from hunger and the right to adequate food. Together with the Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital, Fruity Schools Africa, and Greenponics, they set up the agriculture resource center in the hospital to transform urban livelihoods by providing education, training, and urban gardens to improve food and nutritional security. The demonstration farm includes fruit trees, poultry, black soldier fly (BSF), snails, and fish farming.
“We have all grown up in the community we work in and therefore understand best the dynamics of interventions that can improve the lives of people in informal settlements. City Shamba has so far trained 1,620 individuals on vertical farming and 25 organized groups on community gardening. We have established more than 750 kitchen gardens for different households and institutions across Nairobi, thereby improving food security and enhancing nutrition,” said Gregory Kimani, Team Leader City Shamba.
“We were pleased to welcome His Majesty, an avid gardener with a passion for the environment. We need to pay attention to food and food systems from a nutritional value angle, as well as the environmental and socioeconomic impact. Youth and women groups in urban communities are transforming small spaces through urban farming,” said Dr. Elizabeth Kimani-Murage, Senior Research Scientist and Head of the Nutrition and Food Systems Unit, APHRC.
“The Center, through strategic partnerships, is keen on promoting collaboration, sharing insights, exchanging best practices, and sharing evidence for decision-making to support Africa in making a significant leap in its social and economic development,” said Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi, Executive Director, APHRC.
The Global Hunger Index report of 2023 ranks Kenya at position 90 out of 125 countries with sufficient data to calculate 2023 Global Hunger Index scores. With a score of 22.0, Kenya has a serious level of hunger. Locally produced food through urban farming significantly transforms low-income urban areas by offering a solution for food security, social cohesion, resilience, and environmental sustainability.
Background for Editors
- You can follow UK activity in Kenya on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@UKinKenya)
- You can follow the State Visit @RoyalFamily (Twitter) and @TheRoyalFamily (Instagram)
- About the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) – It is the continent’s premier research and policy organization, exploring population, health, and well-being questions. Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, and with a West Africa Regional Office (WARO) in Dakar, Senegal, the Center seeks to drive change with evidence led by a growing cadre of research leaders from across sub-Saharan Africa, with a vision of transforming lives in Africa – www.aphrc.org
- About City Shamba – It was founded to transform urban livelihoods by providing education, training, and urban gardens to improve food and nutritional security. City Shamba models urban centres to be part of the solution to hunger and malnutrition by enabling urban communities to adopt and practice urban agriculture. City Shamba’s mission is to introduce urban farming as a major force to transform the economics of low-income urban areas.
For more information please contact:
Juliet Ratemo- Okumu
Visibility Unit Manager, APHRC.
jratemo@aphrc.org
+254 (0) 758-723-110
Gregory Kimani
Team Leader, City Shamba farming
gregkim48@gmail.com
+254 (0) 716-846-490