Strange
to relate, but finally, Moyale goes green all over |
By
Allan Olingo |
The green area that dot this village is a stark contrast of the image that dotted the media two years ago when the arid land was drought-stricken. This turn around has been made possible through the Walda Integrated Food Security and Livelihood project, a Kenyan for Kenya initiative after the 2011 drought that left more than 3.75 million people in need of food aid in the country. Things have changed Area residents have now embraced farming as a source of livelihood and they are happy with the fortunes that this project has brought them. This community, which has been depending on pastoralism, has eventually come to embrace agriculture to avert food insecurity. “I am excited that I no longer have to search for water over long distances and I can also grow food crops thereby becoming self-dependent,” says Abida Borena, a resident. Walda community has in the past suffered a cycle of prolonged drought-related disasters. Each disaster decimated their animals leaving them poorer. “Ever since the project started, things have changed. We never had water and we were not farmers. Now it’s different. We have water and can farm. It will make us progress because we can now grow food here,” says Borena. Moyale Member of Parliament Mohamud Mohamed Ali, who was at the launch, says the community is happy with the project and owes it to Kenyans for making a difference in their lives. “It is my wish that this project can be replicated in other areas within North Eastern so that my other brothers and sisters can also have it easy. This is what my residents need,” says Ali. While launching the project, Abbas Gullet, Secretary General of the Kenya Red Cross Society said the project aims to end the devastating effects of repeated drought cycles by changing livelihoods from a traditionally pastoralist mindset to embracing agriculture. Devastated “About a year ago, this district was devastated by the worst drought in 60 years. We are now proud to report that this project will benefit 240 households each with a quarter an acre under irrigation,” said Abbas. According to Abbas, when they visited this area in February last year, they found out that the community depended on food aid for many years yet the area had great agricultural potential. Said Abbas: “We started with eight greenhouses but when the initiative Kenyans for Kenya started, most Kenyans told us that we needed to do something different to break the cycle of devastating effects of drought every five to ten years.” Long-term projects Of the more than Sh650 million that the initiative raised, the parties concerned agreed that the bulk of the money was to go into long-term projects that would make the affected communities self-sufficient. They went ahead to initiate three projects — Walda in Moyale, one in Pokot/Marakwet and the main one in Turkana. Before undertaking any of these projects, we had to get water sorted out first then get into health and food, but in all the three areas that we chose, water has been a problem. “Here in Walda, we decided to put 200 acres of land under irrigation. We drilled three boreholes. On the ground there was a single borehole but it was in a poor state so we had to rehabilitate it,” says Abbas. Food basket Right now, the Walda project has four boreholes in this area that irrigate the farm and a dam that collects the water. There is a dam lining that protects the evaporation. The Pokot-Marakwet has 1,000 acres under irrigation while in Turkana they have drilled 15 boreholes although only four are successful while the other eleven have not been much productive. It is now 18 months since Kenyans were requested to step in and help fellow Kenyans in northern Kenya facing starvation and death during the drought. Now, with these permanent projects, the north might just be food basket for the south. |