Malindi District is one of two districts in Coast province that has been worst affected by food insecurity due to climatic changes resulting in insufficient rain for the area’s crop farming. Dependence on rain fed agriculture by the farmers has further reduced the area’s productivity hence increasing the number of people going hungry.
Felister Makazi, 34, a mother of five tills her 2.5 acre piece of land under the scorching mid day heat. Ordinarily, this is meant to be a rainy season in Lango Baya Division of Malindi District but due to climate change, the weather pattern has drastically changed becoming very unpredictable.
This will be Felister’s third attempt to cultivate her small leased piece of land. She has nothing but to bank on luck that rain will be sufficient to support her crops, this time round.
“I have not received any harvests for the last two seasons due to poor rains. I don’t have enough money to practice irrigation farming on my farm, we are at the mercies of the weather,” says Felister.
“I am hoping for sufficient rains because if the rains are not forthcoming this time round, then I will have lost my livelihood with no other source of income to support my big family.” She adds.
Felister solely depends on her small piece of land to support her children’s education. Her first born child, Ben Makazi, 19, will be sitting for his final high school exams later this year and she is fearful she will not have money to pay for his fees. The same is replicated in her other four children age between five and 14 years.
A few meters away, Jackson Garama, 24, tends to his tomato farm. The difference between the two farms is startling yet they are in the same ecological zone. He is one of the 172 farmers that have benefited from the Hongera Bwagalua Irrigation project, a medium scale irrigation project supported by ActionAid International Kenya.
Jackson has been farming for a year in the one acre leased piece of land. He has been planting capsicums and tomatoes, with a bountiful harvest. Initially, he depended on rain fed agriculture but due to the unpredictability of the rain, he adopted irrigation farming.
Primarily, ActionAid started supported the farmers with a diesel powered water pump to pump water from the nearby River Galana to their farms. The cost of powering the pump was borne by the farmers which ate up in to their proceeds, proving too costly to maintain. The pump was also not adequate to support the 172 farms under the irrigation project.
The farmers then approached ActionAid to support them with a more sustainable irrigation project hence the birth of Hongera Bwagalua Irrigation project. Though still in its formative stages, the farmers have already ripped immensely from the project.
Jackson has been able to raise enough money to provide the best medical care for his 8 month old baby as well as paying dowry for his 21 year old wife, Juliana Garama.
“The project has made me self sufficient. I am now able to support both my extended and nuclear family with ease as well as save the surplus for my daughter’s education,” concludes Jackson.
The project whose construction commenced in 2005 comprises of two reservoir tanks of 200 and 100 cubic meters respectively. Water is pumped from River Galana which is approximately 800 meters from the tank and is stored in the two tanks.
The water is then distributed to the 172 farms with a total acreage of 152 acres through gravity to water hydrants at strategic points in the communal farm.
The total pipeline of the project is 14 kilometers with an implementation cost of Ksh.12 million (GBP 9600).