Their project, dubbed 'Exploring Potential of Togotia , a forgotten African leafy vegetable for nutritional security and climate adaptation in Kenya,' won the grant in October last year in a bid to help farmers and consumers realise the importance of the crop that many, today, term as a weed.
The grant, worth Ksh 4.9 million was awarded to the institution by the Global Challenge Research Fund UK. However, the current global changes in climate conditions have seen many farmers suffer the consequences of unpredictable weather patterns that have seen crops dwindle in the local markets. "We are forced to sell them in small bunches at high prices due to the trouble we go through to get them," she explained to IPS.
"Emergence and intensification of climate change with associated unreliable rainfall limit capacity of local farmers, not only to produce their own food but also surplus for sale, resulting in impoverishment," she explained.