Upscalling & Implemetation Details:

Catholic Diocese of Kitui Medical Department received KES 6,813,000 in March 2020 to implement a project titled “Upscaling climate-smart grain amaranth technologies for nutrition, food security and income generation in Kitui County – Terere smart and KAT Gold”.  The project is implemented in Kitui County in four sub-Counties (Kitui Central, Kitui East, Kitui West, and Mwingi West). The project targets to reach 1,800 farmers directly and 9,000 indirectly.

The project is disseminating Grain Amaranth technology through farmer group approach to reach and sensitize farmers. Thirty (30) demonstration plots have been established across the target sub-counties to take the knowledge close to the farmer. The demonstration sites are managed by lead farmers and serve as field schools to foster farmer-to-farmer learning to accelerate technology adoption. Demonstration plots are also seed multiplication centres that enhance easy access to seeds.

The plan is to upscale access of the grain amaranth seeds to a large number of farmers to enable mass production and commercialization. Plans are underway to establish aggregation centres across the target sub-Counties.