So What is SACRED Africa?

The SACRED Africa Headquarters at Siritanyi Campus, Bungoma, Kenya. The center has Research, training and Demonstration facilities for Sustainable Agriculture and Community Development.

SACRED Africa was established with the major objectives of improving the livelihoods of resource-poor farmers, promoting the sustainable use of natural resources, and agro-biodiversity that seek to enhance food security and safety. These objectives are being addressed through linking small-scale farmers to liberalized markets and dealing with social and cultural issues that hinder development. The NGO is now a full-fledged organization changing the lives of farmers in Kenya through community-oriented capacity building, research and outreach services.

SACRED Africa started as a small rural-based initiative way back in March 1997, but the idea that gave birth to this intra-African NGO was mooted the previous year. SACRED Africa is an acronym for Sustainable Agriculture Center for Research, Extension and Development. It was established as an agricultural research and development organization meant to confront Africa’s agricultural problems with an “African mind and approach” operating in tandem with the scientific, technical and socio-cultural realities of the African continent. SACRED Africa works with poor rural communities in Africa to improve their lives by increasing agricultural productivity, food security and incomes while protecting and enhancing the environment.

Hon. Moody Awori (c) the Immediate former Vice president of Kenya gives checks to maize marketing groups to support smallholder grain Marketing in Western Kenya (2007). The project is implemented by SACRED Africa and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation (US).Over the years, SACRED Africa has realized that the problems facing the communities are complex and cannot be addressed by one single organization. To make a meaningful impact in facilitating development interventions and empowering communities in order to alleviate poverty, SACRED Africa has been working in partnership with individuals and organizations both in the South and in the North. Through this partnership, it has been able to carry out in-depth analysis and research on African food production, build the capacities of rural agricultural communities and address marketing as well as processing problems affecting smallholder farmers.

The organization considers itself as having a calling to make a tangible contribution with its partners in bringing about true and real change amongst impoverished African communities. The organization also supports and empowers women and other rural people by responding to their priority needs in a holistic manner. Today, SACRED Africa has more than five programs with expertise in Agronomy, Agricultural Marketing, Forestry, Soil Science, Animal Production, Organic Farming and the Sociology and farming as a business for smallholder farmers.

In Kenya, SACRED Africa operates in well over seven administrative Districts with an approximate population of 3 million people. The organization has been expanding with time and on the basis of legitimate demand for its core services to other parts of the country and within the region into Rwanda and Uganda. In Rwanda, SACRED Africa has a presence in Umtara Province. Lately, it has also gained a foothold in Uganda. SACRED Africa has its head office at Siritanyi Campus, Bungoma Kenya and a logistical office in Nairobi.

SACRED Africa has developed this website where one can access the organization's in-depth analysis of the various aspects of Sub-Saharan African agricultural development issues and the role that the NGO is playing.