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How once hungry Machakos village became food secure
In 2010, Yatta residents joined hands to dig farm ponds to harvest rainwater for use on their dry farms.
nation.africa
The ongoing drought has reached the peak in many parts of the country, including in Machakos County.
Most farmlands in the region are dry but in Yatta, it is a different tale. Hundreds of farmlands are teeming with lush green maize crops and assorted vegetables.
The smallholder farmers in the sleepy region perched on Yatta plateau grow various crops all through the year thanks to a culture of aggressive rainwater harvesting using water pans.
Ponds come to the rescue of arid villages
Seeds of Gold Oct 25, 2019
In Ndovoini village, Francisca Mutiso is drawing water from her water pan using a foot-operated pump to irrigate a nearby onion crop when the Seeds of Gold team visits.
“Although Yatta is one of the driest regions in the county, we grow crops at the height of the dry spell. This year has been particularly bad since it has not rained properly in the last three seasons. However, we use our water pans to sustain farming,” she says.
Her half-acre farm teems with beans, cow peas, tomatoes and sukuma wiki, though she is worried her water pan is almost drying up
It all started in 2010 when Francisca alongside other villagers teamed up to build water pans.
They would meet at one member’s homestead and dig a water pan, before moving to the next.
The communal labour saved the villagers huge costs as it takes at least Sh 35,000 when one hires labour. The cost increase in cases where a dam liner is required to prevent water seepage.
The process started with selecting the ideal site, in particular near a road to easily tap surface runoff. A site with clay soil is usually the best to enhance the pan’s ability to retain water.
“Once the location s identified, we excavated the soil and used it to build the embankment,” explains Francisca.
Three methods were used to minimise water loss through seepage. These are compacting the embankment, lining the bed and walls with clay soil and lining the bed and wall with a dam liner. The water pan should have a spill way and silt traps to minimise siltation.
Farmers direct surface runoff into the water pans using rudimentary canals. The water passes through small check points to prevent siltation.
Further, to minimise water loss through evaporation, it is advisable to plant trees around the dam and install a shade net over the reservoir.
Although the groups use the water mainly for irrigation and watering livestock, it also serves domestic purposes after purification.
Read: Crop that is changing lives of Ukambani residents
“We use drip irrigation to water the crops particularly in the evening. Importantly, we mulch the crops heavily to avoid losing the moisture,” she explains, noting the water pans are 1,000 to 3,000 cubic meters.
In addition to making her family and those of other villagers food secure, Francisca’s farming enterprise has been pivotal in meeting her financial obligations.
The mother of four recalls entering into an agreement with the principal of a local secondary school where one of her children schooled. She regularly supplied onions to the school to clear fees. The child is now a teacher.
Looking at her current status, it is hard to imagine Francisca and other villagers once survived on food aid (mwolyo).
"We often received 2 kilos of maize after spending a whole day walking to and from the distribution point and queuing,” says Veronica Syokau, a resident of Maiuni Village.
Bishop Titus Masika, a preacher, says the plight of the region started to change after a woman died of hunger.
"We met as leaders and came up with a strategy to end dependence on food aid. At the core of our strategy was aggressive water harvesting using farm ponds at the household level and the growing of fast-maturing crops such as French beans and vegetables,” Masika says.
In the semi-arid region where rainy seasons start late and end as crops start to flower, the water harvesting initiative paid off.
“We established that the amount of rainfall we receive in semi-arid regions is enough to sustain crops to maturity. Crops only need water and not rainfall. That is why water harvesting is key in attaining food security. It is part of climate-smart technics alongside mulching and crop rotation,” says the preacher, who runs an organisation known as Christian Impact Mission.
At his model farm in Makutano Village where he showcases water pans and their potential in turning around arid regions, Masika employs the passion of a teacher to campaign for mind-set change in the context of climate-smart adaptation.
“In the wake of climate change, farmers need to be receptive to new ideas. They should know that they can be self-reliant, self-sustaining and resilient and that they hold the key to their own problems,” he says.
Although Masika recommends the growing of high value crops such as French beans and vegetables, a spot check by Seeds of Gold shows that many of the farmers have gone big on maize, the region’s staple food.
Bernard Wambua, a retired Kenya Army officer, says they farm maize because they established it is more valuable, especially when harvested green.
“Green maize goes like hot cake during the dry season. A piece fetches Sh25. Already, I have earned Sh40,000 from a quarter-acre. There is still some more maize ready for harvesting,” he says. To expand the acreage on maize crops, he has moved to set up a second water pan.
For French beans and chilli, exporters visit the farmlands to buy. Green grocers from Matuu township also flock the farms for the rest of the other commodities like onions and tomatoes.
To stand out from competition, Masika encourages farmers to grow crops during off season.
What started as a plan to end the lack of dignity caused by hunger has set off a vibrant farming enterprise that has turned around the economic fortunes of more than 6,000 households.
The Yatta model has been drawing droves of farmers, government officials, and politicians from the country and beyond in search of lessons.
In 2016, Masika struck a deal with the Makueni County government to replicate the model in the county. He has also extended the campaign to West Pokot County where farmers have replicated the model albeit in small-scale.
Inspired by the innovation at the Yatta villages, the National Irrigation Authority has lend a helping hand. It has provided farmers with excavators to desilt and expand the existing water pans to hold more water and last longer.
“We have established that the high cost of excavation is the main reason why farmers in arid and semi-arid regions shy away from using water pans to harvest rainwater,” says Peter Ngeli, a programmes officer at Micro Enterprise Support Programme Trust, which promotes the uptake of water pans among smallholder farmers by subsidising the cost of dam liners.
“The value of a water pan is not determined by the reservoir itself but the whole irrigation ecosystem, including the farming enterprise and the method of irrigation employed. We recommend that farmers using water pans and ponds to harvest rainwater should grow high value crops which have a short cycle because they give higher profit margins. Using drip irrigation to water crops ensures water is used more efficiently than when the farmer uses flood irrigation,” he adds.
