Moving Towards Food Security in Dry Land Areas

By Isaiah Esipisu



Jemina Nzuki preparing zai-pits



MWINGI, Kenya – In a tiny village known as Kakumini in the heart of Mwingi Sub-County, Jemima Nzuki is busy excavating zai-pits on her three acre plot in preparation for planting. The entire semi arid region is dry. Nobody surely knows when the elusive rains will come down. But Nzuki and other villagers have hopes that it will rain some day, and that is when they will plant.

The last time it rained in this area was seven months ago. That was when she harvested the food that sustains her family to date.

The food stock in her granary is evidence that the 30 year old mother of four has learnt tricks on how to co-exist with tough and ever shifting climatic conditions.

“We work as a group of 21 women, from which we share experiences. Through weekly meetings, we generate ideas on how conquer the tough climatic conditions and produce enough food for our families,” she said.

It was from such meetings that the villagers of Kakumini learnt of how to prepare zai-pits, which have demonstrated to be effective in conserving soil moisture.

A zai-pit is a hole, a planting pit with a diameter of 20 to 40 centimetres and a depth of 10 to 20 centimetres. However, the dimensions vary according to the type of soil. They are then filled with compost manure mixed with top soil. When it rains, the pit content is able to retain soil moisture for a longer time. Crops are therefore planted inside the pits.

Through such technologies learnt through her group known as ‘Kieni Farmers Field School,’ Nzuki says that she has enough food to feed her family for the next eight months.

A Farmer Field School (FFS) is a participatory extension approach that is based on non-formal education methods. It creates a learning environment in which farmers can master and apply specific management skills, with emphasis on empowering farmers to implement their own decisions on their own fields. In Kieni, the FFS concept was introduced by ActionAid International Kenya.

“In my granary, I have 80 kilograms of green grams remaining, 100 kiograms of cowpeas, 50 kilograms of sorghum, and 150 kilograms of pigeon peas. I also have 21 indigenous chicken, which I sometimes use as a source of income,” said Nzuki.

 “The Kieni Farmers Field School is just one of several groups in dryland areas formed through our intervention,” said Philip Kilonzo, the Technical Advisor Livelihoods; ActionAid Kenya.

The FFS approach is based on certain empowering principles such as: farmers as experts; the field being seen as the primary learning place. In practice, the extension workers are used as facilitators rather than teachers, while scientists and subject matter specialists work hand in hand farmers.

“Apart from employing techniques such as zai-pits, we have learnt of growing drought tolerant crops that are also high yielding. However, most of what we have on our farms is what has been there for generations. The only difference is the new techniques of farm management, some of the varieties have been improved, and systems used for planting is quite different from the one we used to employ before,” said Nzuki.

However, as a means of adaptation to the climate change, some of the crops that have been thriving in this area have found themselves on the receiving end because they can no longer survive the drought.

“The climatic conditions are changing very fast. And as a result, we have been forced to abandon maize as a food crop. We have instead substituted it with an improved variety of sorghum known as ‘Gadam’,” said Nzuki.

The group was recently privileged to visit a dryland farming model in Yatta, within Kithimani division. The farming model also known as Operation Mwolio Out (OMO) is a church based movement that has managed to eradicate hunger in the area within a period of three years. (The word Mwolio means Food-Aid in Kamba language)

“What we have learnt from the OMO model is that despite the drought, we can harvest enough water and store it for future farming. The other lesson is that in this model, communities work together to ensure that each household has a water harvesting point in form of a water pan, which collects rain runoff water for use during dry spells,” said Nzuki.

Initially, organizations including ActionAid have been promoting community based water harvesting points. But according to the OMO model, having such facilities at a household level has proven to be more effective, sustainable, and able to deliver results in the shortest time possible. “We are convicted in adopting the Yatta model, and duplicating it in several other dry land areas in the country,” said Kilonzo.

Nzuki is in the process of sinking her water pan so that she can harvest run-off water when rain comes towards the end of the year. “After visiting the OMO project, I’m convinced that a water pan is what I need to have my life change forever,” said Nzuki.

According to Kilonzo, ActionAid International Kenya is out to learn from successful models and duplicate them in different parts of the country.