The goal of this project is to alleviate land degradation caused by overgrazing by promoting agricultural diversification into high value lemon grass. During Phase 1, community members were trained in organisational development, lemon grass cultivation, and water and soil conservation. They have successfully grown two species of lemon grass, one for essential oil and one for tea, and a processing and storage warehouse has been partly constructed. The project benefits from the experience of ICIPE Kenya, which will continue to assist in technical training, procuring inputs, processing, packaging and marketing. This Phase 2 grant covers completion of the processing facilities, operation, and technical capacity building. Co-financing of $22,283 from the Canada Fund has been procured to purchase the oil distillation unit and training in operation of the equipment.