“I want my grandchildren to grow up in a green world”

Jane and Jane Foto Elin Larsson
Jane and Jane Foto Elin Larsson
“Every day, we use to share a cup of tea under the mango tree and I tell Jane all about the big mangoes I use to eat when I was a child.”

This is Jane Okoth, a kenyan farmer, and her best friend and grandchild Jane Juma. Jane has her own experience on how the climate changed when people in the village started to cut down the trees.

“I know they had to do it to gain income but it changed the climate around her. It was all dusty and the soil got very dry. Nothing was growing and it was really hard for a women to feed her family”.

Jane and her husband was trained by Vi Agroforestry in sustainable agriculture land management and the importance of trees. Today they have changed their living conditions. “We have planted over 1500 trees on our farm and now we know that if we stop planting trees the environment will die again.” Jane explains the importance of passing the knowledge to the next generation. “A lot of people do not care about our environment but I want Jane and all my other grandchildren to grow up in a green world. I am doing my best to teach them everything i know about being a sustainable farmer.” Jane the younger looks at her grandmother and adds “I want to be like my grandma when I get old. I want her to teach me how to plant trees so that I could eat giant mangoes one day.