A thank you note to LRV’s readers and partners

By Bob Aston

The Laikipia Rural Voices (LRV) which is supported by Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN) through Ng’arua Maarifa Centre would like to thank the many individuals and the Citizen Journalism Reporters who graciously assisted in ensuring that ALIN won the Youth in Agriculture blog competition (YoBloco Awards).

ALIN emerged the best in East Africa region in the Institutional category of the Yobloco Awards through their blog Laikipia Rural Voices (LRV), thus winning Euro 3,000.

Some of the Yobloco Award winners posing for a photo

The aim of the competition was to put into limelight successes and issues faced by youths engaged in agriculture, in urban and rural areas; and to encourage the production of information and the use of new information and communication technologies by young farmers groups and organizations interested in the youth in agriculture question.

LRV would like to sincerely thank all the readers who have been reading the blog. It is really a pleasure knowing that there are people out there who have been dedicated readers. The various comments posted on facebook, twitter or google+ has always been encouraging and has been a great motivation to the various citizen Reporters who have been blogging through LRV.

LRV reader’s satisfaction will always remain our number one concern. Knowing that there is a team of dedicated readers who are always looking for the Citizen Reporters to provide them with information is something that motivates them to even put more effort in their work.

It has always been a pleasure knowing that a lot of people depend on LRV for agricultural information. It is worth noting that LRV has always been at the forefront of promoting SOKO+ which is a digital commodity trading and information system linking small scale farmers to end retailers and Farm Records Management Information System (FARMIS-Kenya) which is a farm management and diagnostic tool based on the use of farm records.

The two products are dear to LRV as they help to empower farmers. Seeing farmers improve their livelihood is an issue that ALIN has always been keen on.

LRV has now gone a step further and is now at the forefront of documenting ALIN’s project which seeks to enhance community resilience to adapt to the impacts of climate change for improved livelihood in Laikipia County.

Yobloco winners with CTA Director

With many communities directly relying on natural resources to generate food for consumption and income, it has been extremely important for ALIN to share knowledge on Sustainable Landscape Management (SLM) and Natural Resource Management (NRM) through LRV.

It is clear that the importance given to agriculture this year has not impressed some LRV readers judging by some feedback. Nevertheless it is important for LRV readers to realize that the main objective of the blog has always been to cover livelihood and agriculture related issues. Giving agriculture the attention that it deserves will go a long way in ensuring that everyone appreciates its importance in the economy of the country.

The LRV Reporters have worked hard this year and their dedication has paid off. This year the Citizen Reporters have so far managed to post 121 articles. The number of articles written has been on the rise over the years. In 2013 the Citizen reporters posted 91 articles while in 2012 they posted 76 stories.

LRV has also seen an increase in number of visitors in the blog. The blog has already registered more than 50,910 visitors with more than 32,760 page views.

Please encourage your friends and colleagues to also start reading the blog. Sharing the different blog posts through the social media will go a long way in increasing LRVs audience.

LRV would like to welcome its readers’ feedback, critism and opinions as they hold more value for LRV than from anyone else.

LRV looks forward to even greater community involvement in its activities. LRV would love for you to join them. Jump on in, tell your story and see how it connects with someone on the other side of the world.