Farming restores peace in restive arid north

[Antony Gitonga, Standard]

The Dagodia and Borana communities along the Wajir-Isiolo border have been at loggerheads for years.

The conflict revolves mainly around access to water and grazing land for their livestock, causing loss of life and displacement, particularly affecting women and children.

Other than the loss of lives, the constant raids have also interfered with the cultural aspect of the pastoralists.

However, this narrative is slowly changing. Three years ago, residents of Bullagows village at the border began an irrigation project, venturing into farming as a solution to their longstanding challenges.

What began with hesitation has since evolved into a transformative initiative, fostering peace, food security, health, and education by encouraging previously nomadic pastoralists to settle and engage in farming.

Bullagows village, 120 kilometres from Wajir town, is thriving as its residents grow maize, onions, watermelon, capsicum, and coriander.

With stable homes, families no longer need to migrate, providing children with uninterrupted schooling. This has been backed up by the proceeds of the integrated farm, as farmers can now keep their children in school.

According to Asura Ibrahim Muhumed, a local farmer, the stability has strengthened family bonds, allowing them to stay in one place and reducing the disruptions caused by drought-induced migration.

“We are now in a permanent settlement in Bullagows where my family lives happily together as we embark on mixed farming. We sell goat and cow milk even as we enjoy a balanced diet from our farming activities,” she said. Historically, Women and children bore the brunt of climatic and conflict-related shocks and are now embracing farming as an alternative to livestock rearing.

Ibrahim, for instance, is teaching her 20-year-old son farming skills as a diversification strategy to ensure resilience.

“Crop farming has emerged as one of the best diversification strategies for locals who only knew how to look after the cattle, sheep, camels and goats. As a result, we want to impact our children with the skills to open their eyes so that even if they can continue rearing the livestock, they may as well engage in farming,” she said.

Ibrahim’s decision to impact her child with farming skills seems to break the jinx among the pastoralist communities, where their children often become pastoralists because pastoralism is a family-based livelihood that involves the entire family. 

Farmers, including Rashid Sambul Mohamed, have started supplying local markets, reducing dependence on expensive produce from distant areas like Nairobi.

He noted that the locals could not afford commodities, but since the introduction of farming, such farm products are now affordable and easily accessible.

The initiative has also seen the locals eat healthy food, protecting them from nutritional deficiency diseases.

Sambul noted that government services, such as health facilities, have become accessible now that the community is settled in one place, helping reduce maternal mortality rates by providing medical support for women and children.

“Bullagows Primary School, which was at risk of closure because of the on and off presence of pupils has also started to improve. With this trend, our pupils will concentrate in school and register good performance. That is why we see this project as a multi-faceted approach to our woes,” he said.

“The constant raids also posed a great danger to the school-going children because during the process, children are not able to access the learning institutions together with their teachers who always run to save their lives, but most recently, the incidents have gone down. We hope that if such projects are rolled out in other villages, the region will be free from the insecurity incidences.”

Education in Wajir and other parts of North Eastern is normally disrupted by drought, which informs pastoralists migrating in search of water and pasture.

“Our people now enjoy peace and we can go about our daily chores, such as farming and looking for markets for our produce, and this has opened our eyes that alternative ways of earning a livelihood could be a strategy to foster peace and coexistence among communities,” said Sambul.

The project’s success is significantly contributed by resources and technical support provided by the World Food Program (WFP) and the County Government of Wajir, which continues to build the capacity of farmers and community in Bullagows on good agronomic practices, Food safety and quality and post-loss management strategies.  “Our culture is not known for farming, and we had to acquire skills on the best crop management practices and the basic skills that we got from farmers from agricultural-based counties,” Dakan Mohamed Haret, another farmer said.

Nicholas Migowa, an assistant monitoring officer with the WFP, explained that the project supports 2,000 households that are grouped in community units, sharing in the planting and profits.

Additionally, WFP assists with market linkages, enabling farmers to sell their crops locally at good prices and preventing surplus waste.

Initially, some community members resisted farming, as pastoralism was deeply ingrained in their culture. Some herders saw crop farming as a ‘foreign culture,’ while others considered it a taboo.

“However, after experiencing their first profits, they reinvested in the project. Now, the five-acre farm yields substantial harvests, with this season’s projections being 16 tonnes of onions, six tonnes of maize, and six tonnes of tomatoes, with first sales totalling Sh3 million—a significant economic boost for the area,” he said.

He noted that the market linkages have also exposed farmers to the existing opportunities from other crops that they can grow.

According to Migowa, the project involved the drilling of a high-yielding borehole, installation of solar solar-powered pump, water storage and reticulation from 100m3 elevated tanks and installation of irrigation structures and a sanitation facility. 

He said solar-powered borehole systems provide water for irrigation, livestock, and the village’s health facility.

He explained that the borehole, producing 25,000 litres of water per hour, fills a large storage tank, ensuring a steady water supply.

“The steady supply of water ensures that both livestock and the irrigation project are supplied with enough water. This saves time for the farmers who would be going to look for water in other areas and instead focus more on the farms,” Migowa added.

The borehole has also acted as a haven for livestock from other communities since it provides enough water for livestock consumption.

To boost sanitation a new lavatory facility also helps improve sanitation, while training them on fodder production has ensured feed for livestock.

“As farmers continue expanding farming by putting more land into use, the fodder production will go away in assisting them to get manure for the irrigation,” noted the field officer.

In a region where 75 per cent of the population relies on pastoralism, the remaining 25 per cent involved in farming demonstrates the potential for agricultural expansion.

Local leaders are now advocating for the government to extend similar irrigation projects to other areas in Wajir to further stabilise the region and enhance self-sufficiency.

Climate change, extreme weather events and insufficient demand for local goods have complicated the challenges.

“The Burragows irrigation project should be replicated in many parts of Wajir as it signifies a silent revolution. If more irrigation projects are rolled out, Wajir has the potential of feeding the North Eastern region,” Sambul noted as he pointed out that many farms remain unexploited.