James Ligare, the acting general manager of the Muliru Farmers’ Conservation Group is pictured in the bioprospecting laboratory at icipe monitoring the quality of the Ocimum Kilimandscharicum oil and the Naturub® range of products, by observing their profiles on a High Performance Liquid Chromatography.

For years, the village of Virhembe sat nondescriptly on the fringes on Kakamega Forest. While the forest, world-renowned for its unique biodiversity, attracted a constant stream of visitors, the people of Virhembe remained confined within the boundaries of their village, too constrained by poverty to move. But today, thanks to the efforts of some its members, under the Muliru Farmers Conservation Group, with support from icipe, the University of Nairobi, KWS, ICRAF and KEFRI, the village’s fortunes have changed dramatically.

Reprinted from Msafiri Magazine