Elderly women manage access to water in drought-hit Kitengela

The dirty, thorny, dry, and expansive land dotted with scattered Manyattas is a true indication of the current drought’s effects on a Kenyan pastoralist community in Kajiado County. Located South of Nairobi, Kitengela town in Kajiado County has a women-led group that is using a water management small-scale irrigation project to boost farming in this dry region.

Many locals here can barely remember when they last saw rain. “Only God knows when we will get the next rains. We pray day and night... things are not good here,” Irene Makui, the chairperson of Nadupoi Olooloitikoshi women’s group begins narrating their story to a group of reporters supported by the Uganda-based InfoNile, a joint programme of the Nile Basin Initiative, to which Kenya is a member.

The women’s group owns two acres in Olooloitikoshi village. They keep bees, poultry, and plant vegetables. They use water from a borehole they own to irrigate the vegetables.

Makui says they started the group in 2015, with 14 women, all elderly. They started by buying goats and saving cash. “We realised that as a livestock keeping community, we needed to be unique and agreed on a farming project that will produce vegetables and add balance on our diet that tends to heavily rely on livestock.

“We were given land by the community. Here land is owned by the community. We went to Kajiado County offices to seek help on water harvesting. They listened and supported us to build a water tank and dug a borehole for us. We harvest water and use it for irrigation. The rest is for livestock. See the trenches for giving cows and goats water are here.”

Makui, a widow with six children and several grandchildren, does not regret starting the farming project.

“As Maasai community, we only believe in keeping livestock. Anything else is a struggle too many to embrace, but we are here even keeping bees and selling honey to locals,” she says. Erratic weather patterns have posed a huge challenge to many pastoralists in the country and is messing their preferred way of life.

Currently, the Covid-19 pandemic and drought, which has been declared a national disaster by President Uhuru Kenyatta, remain a thorn in the flesh for many in Olooloitikosh village. “Drought is a major problem. When it hits, most livestock die and people become so desperate. We decided to think differently and do irrigation for extra income. “Ours is to bring change among our women; we do not want to suffer the same problems our past generations have faced. Even though we have not gone to school, we can still use our God given brains to do something.”

Janet Koisinget, a mother of eight and member of the group, says they do not have money to buy good pipes for irrigation. “We really want to do drip irrigation; but we use containers to sprinkle water on the farms.” “It is so dry, but we have planted kales, onions, and spinach. We still use cans to sprinkle water and our vegetables grow well.”

The women meet twice a month, each member carrying Sh1,000, which is saved. The money comes in handy when there is need like school fees or domestic problems.

Koisinget says women from her community are culturally not allowed to own livestock. Men are in charge. Women in the Nadupoi group are elderly, some widowed. Many cannot communicate in Swahili, and only five understand it.

Covid-19 was disaster for the group, as it messed their milk sale. “No one could sell milk and no one was buying,” Koisinget says, adding: “We pray for end of Covid-19 so we can get back on our feet.”

Similarly, Joyce Sunte, a member of the group, praises their work so far. “Despite some challenges here and there, we are managing. Above all, we get water from the borehole and plant vegetables, and at the same time the community around here gets to water their livestock.”

Sunte believes with more support, they will expand and plant more vegetables. “We do not have any extension services. Even when pests invade our crops we have no one to talk to... no expert,” she says.

“We have diversified this project; the bees benefit from the water. They need water and nectar to make honey. Without it they cannot even enter the hives,” she adds.

The National Drought Management Authority, through their August Bulletin in Kajiado County, said the average yield for the long rain season reduced by 47 per cent of the five-year average. Similarly, the area planned for beans was above the long-term average by 10 per cent, and the yield below the five-year average by 39 per cent.

Decrease in maize production was attributed to below-average rainfall at critical crop physiological development. The problem was compounded by the Fall Armyworm. Beans suffered moister stress and cutworm infestations.

Following the mixed performance of the long rains; crop production, household access to food and income remained constrained by below-average food stocks and incomes from crop sales.

Pandemic impact

Covid-19 Gender Assessment Report conducted by Kenyan government and UN indicated how the pandemic impacted many sectors of the economy, including agriculture and farming. It showed that household food security was at risk during the pandemic as a result of declining income, potentially reduced food production, and limited market access.

Also, more women than men had to either eat less or skip a meal (33 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively) or go without food (12 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively).

Aggravating food security concerns is the disruption of the agriculture value chain activities with a noticeable decline in access to agricultural inputs affecting a slightly higher proportion of women in urban areas (42 per cent) relative to men (37 per cent), indicating that availability and ability to buy agricultural inputs had declined.

However, the proportions were relatively similar for rural areas with both at 45 per cent.