Joseph Lentunyoi
Laikipia Permaculture Centre – Kenya
Joseph’s is the story of an inspired and inspiring Maasai man who has brought positive change to his land and community through permaculture. Lentunyoi started a permaculture center in his dry, arid homeland of Laikipia in 2012 and is the current Executive Director of Laikipia Permaculture Center (LPC). The Center now occupies a 1.6 hectare farm located on the Laikipia Plain, north of the Great Rift Valley in Kenya. To this day, this is the only organized permaculture project in the region. Before his work at the center, Joseph had extensive experience as the Director the Sustainability Program at Nyumbani village, which brought permaculture techniques to Nyumbani. While having been originally introduced to permaculture by Geoff Lawton in Tanzania in 2007. After completing his internship and teacher training with Geoff, he also went on to an advanced consultancy course with Warren Brush. Since then, Joseph has taught permaculture widely around East Africa and the USA, and within the Center.
Traditionally this region has been largely communal livestock farming; the keeping and grazing of cattle, sheep and goats. This had been the key activity of the LPC land before it was put up for sale. Observations over the years concluded that the damage created by the cattle, goats and sheep was too great. Meanwhile, in spite of the ecological benefits to this area, especially with the introduction of permaculture, the decreasing land for animal communal grazing has led the ethnic Maasai to continue transferring their animals to distant areas, where similar and new degradation is currently underway. Joseph and LPC are working to dissuade this behavior, and succeeding in part, by demonstrating there’s a much better way. The Laikipia Permaculture Centre has since completely changed their small, ecologically bereft, and original four-acre landscape from a desolate brown to lush green simply by planting drought tolerant trees like moringa oliefera, while keeping the top layer soil protected from the sun with straw. By researching the conditions of the soil they decided what plants would improve its fertility. For a while now, the farm has been improved into an open communal resource, including a permaculture training center for education on food growing, working on indigenous tree propagation as well as water harvesting and conservation strategies. There are small mud lodges, a nursery, a food forest, and an interactive classroom.
In the interest of preserving and enhancing the local environment, the
LPC’s farm has started working with local communities to set up a permaculture centers as an alternative towards better livelihoods through education, and by doing this they believe they will demonstrate that in helping each other, we can unleash extraordinary power that impacts our lives: forest preservation and improved utilization of natural resources, will be key elements.
“We produce Organic cactus-based products in the food sector as well as aloe secundiflora in the global cosmetics sector. Moistorizing lotion and creme which also acts as a sunscreen, made by (the) Naatum women group. LPC sells this products on behalf of (the people) at our gift shop.”
Website: Laikipia Permaculture Centre
Video 1: Growing Local
Video 2: Interview
Video 3: Change through Permaculture
