For years, communities in arid regions have struggled with hunger and relied on donations to survive. However, a group of volunteers led by Mission Relief Africa are slowly changing the narrative using water pans and boreholes.
Mission Relief Africa Coordinator Mohamed Rafik says they have farms in Bamba and Ukunda in Kilifi County, Mandera, Garissa and Garsen and the communities have begun to realise they can grow and harvest crops without depending on donations.
"The communities around arid regions have over the years believed the crops can't grow in such areas but that is changing," said Rafik.
According to Rafik, farming is a long-term solution as opposed to donations of foodstuff to the communities around the arid regions and this strategy should be adopted by the government, donors and volunteers. He says the Chage community within Bamba Marianga Sub-county have already enjoyed their second harvest from the one-and-a-half acre land that they irrigate through water pans.
"One water pan like the one in Bamba holds up to 2.5 million litres of water which translates to eight months of water supply. If the government can make sure that we have farm projects beside the water pans, we shall be able to address food security in arid area," says Rafik. With the help of organisations like Dear Diaries, and Orphan Aid among others, they drill boreholes and develop farms while the communities receive monthly training on how to use the scarce water to plant crops.
"Like now we have a farm in Bamba where they grow tomatoes, bananas, melons, spinach, papayas and traditional vegetables (mchicha) which they sell and the money they make is used to pay the committee managing the firm, sustaining the project, reinvesting and developing other projects," says Rafik. The farming has transformed the lives of 3,000 family members from three communities.
"Within Bamba, there are 50 communities and we have started with three communities and a community has 100 families with nine or 10 family members," says Rafik.
Interestingly, Rafik says in Bamba, the main source of income is burning charcoal, with a bag being sold at Sh250 by the communities and resold in Mombasa at Sh1,800.
He says as the other communities catch up and the land for cultivation expands to produce more crops, they shall help them look for markets in Mazaras, Mariakani and other regions. Rafik says they started farming on a quarter acre of land where they grew healthy kales that fetched them Sh15,000 and later increased the land portion and grew (mchicha) and earned a similar amount.
He says the harvest from the farm is sold to the communities at an affordable price and the returns are invested back into expanding the projects and paying the committee members to ensure sustainability of the projects.
"If today they can earn Sh100 from the farm produce and tomorrow they earn more, it will help them be independent... Donor funds should be pumped into long term solutions that will help address food security in arid regions," says Rafik.
He says they have partnered with suppliers of different seedlings to give trainings before any farm project is done to help understand the business side of farming.
