Kenya: Irrigation Projects in Ruins as Turkana Faces Starvation

Some 215 kilometres north of Lodwar stands the once vibrant

Kaikor drip irrigation scheme that provided a glimmer of hope

in the fight against perennial hunger in the semi-arid Turkana

County.

The project, an initiative of the Kenya Red Cross Society and

the Kenyans for Kenya Steering Committee, was commissioned

in July 2013 and sought to build community resilience and

enhance food security. It targeted three villages with a total

population of over 15,000.

It collapsed a short time later, and six years since, the county

has more than 600,000 people in dire need of relief food,

according to the National Drought Management Authority.

Ironically, Kaikor is among the worst-hit.

Locals are nostalgic about those days of plenty.
“The irrigation scheme provided plenty of food and income for
three years. But since its collapse, we’ve reverted to our old
life of food dependence. For us to eat, we entirely depend on
relief food,” said Nangole Lomuru from Nakinomet village.
“Life has been challenging since the scheme collapsed
because we can’t grow food crops, which also served as our
source of income [when we sold] the surplus,” he recollects.
‘A drop in the ocean’
The Longolemwar, Loitanit, Nakinomet and Kangitulai irrigation
schemes in Kaikor, which gobbled up millions of shillings,
were established by the Kenyans for Kenya Drought Initiative of
2011.
When the project opened, then Kenya Red Cross secretary-
general Abbas Gullet noted: “The project is a drop in the ocean
because of the devastating perennial hunger in Turkana County.

Both the county and national governments should upscale the
project and make it sustainable in order to permanently deal
with food insecurity in the region,” he said.
It’s easy to see why Mr Gullet called it a drop in the ocean.
Turkana is Kenya’s largest county at 77,500 square kilometres.
“Due to the vast terrain and sparse population, implementing
economically viable projects will require huge investments,”
the Red Cross said in a report. Besides size, the Red Cross
also cited poor infrastructure and the area’s pastoralist culture
as exposing residents to vulnerabilities.
The Red Cross sunk 12 boreholes in Turkana North. In its plan,
it wanted to produce tomatoes, spinach, kale, melon, sweet
potatoes, pumpkins and maize in an open-field irrigation
system targeting over 1,500 metric tonnes per year. The
organisation had similar projects under the Kenyans for Kenya
banner in Pokot East and Walda, Moyale.

Turkana Governor Josphat Nanok, who had accompanied Mr
Gullet, said it was his administration’s dream that one day
Turkana communities would produce enough food to feed
themselves and have a surplus to sell.
“Funds have been set aside to scale up the project because
we want to change the hunger narrative to the land of plenty,”
he said then.
But now the fields are filled with ngitrai also known as
mathenge (Prosopis juliflora) and shrubs, and the pipes and
plastic tanks have all been ruined by the scorching sun. The
metal bars and steel wires on greenhouses are rusting.
James Lomoru, another beneficiary, said the scheme had
replaced pastoralism and life was enjoyable. “When the project
was thriving, there was a significant transformation in our
livelihoods but now it’s just a memory,” he said.
Bonface Lopem, another resident, said the initiative that was
also part of the Turkana North Integrated Emergency Drought
Programme, addressed the major challenge of poor water
access. He expressed fear that a new irrigation project that the
county government is establishing just a few metres from the
stalled project will also be short-lived.
“The county government should have channelled the funds to
reviving the old project,” he said. “From time immemorial, we
never thought our sun-baked soils would produce crops, but we
reaped a lot because we had enough. But things have changed
for the worse. Our children are malnourished due to insufficient
food,” said Lopusbo Ekalale.
The beneficiaries said they did not have financial literacy and a
well-organised association to help them save money from the
sales of their produce to make the project sustainable.
Revived the dreams
When Israel ambassador to Kenya Oded Joseph visited
Turkana in August, he revived the dreams of a food-secure
region through knowledge transfer.
Mr Joseph said Turkana is among 10 devolved units that the
Israeli government was seeking to partner with to achieve food
security.
“Turkana and Israel have several similarities, especially on
climate, and it will be critical if the county adopts different
approaches through technology to address water scarcity,
including desalination and water harvesting for crop
production,” he said.
He promised to help form a joint technical team that will push
for the inclusion of local graduates in an Israeli-funded
sponsorship programme where they will undergo an 11-month
specialised training in agricultural technologies.
“The trained graduates will then be required to work in
Turkana, with the sole objective of increasing expertise in the
field,” he said.
Governor Nanok said, his administration was keen to replicate
some of the successful Israeli innovations and programmes to
tackle perennial food shortages in the county.
Turkana County’s transformation to a breadbasket, he said, will
require commitment from area residents the same way Israelis
worked to build all aspects of its economy to global
standards.
“The county is keen to tap into Israeli expertise in crop
production, and innovation in dry-land farming, including
transformational agro-technology,” the county boss said.
He added that research and the success of model irrigation
had proven that Turkana held the potential for agriculture.
Mr Nanok reiterated the county’s determination to shift from
subsistence farming to commercial production. He urged the
ambassador to link Turkana to Israeli investors. The governor
noted that with massive groundwater resources, finding the
technology to make saline water suitable for domestic use will
resolve water shortage.
He announced that the Israeli government and the United
Nations Environment Programme will support the development
of Turkana’s laboratory capacity to test the quality and
suitability of water. Test results will then guide interventions.
Read the original article on Nation: https://nation.africa/kenya