Women from pastoral areas have embraced climate smart agriculture in a bid to promote food security and shun livestock dependability as the only source of livelihood.
The women who are from the counties of Isiolo, Samburu and Laikipia attribute their success in farming as opposed to livestock keeping through savings and loans which enables them to acquire the required tools and resources to aid in their new found venture.
According to Angeline Achoka from Isiolo county, they were working in groups which enabled them to save enough money where members could borrow for agricultural utilisation.
“We are pastoralists and we relied on livestock keeping, but they were all wiped out by drought. As women we developed a plan to salvage the situation by coming together through savings to raise capital for farming,” she says.
She revealed that through farming and in partnership with other local women, she has been able to educate her children.
“We do kitchen gardens, that is where we get money to educate our children. I am very grateful for these women groups since initially we lived in poverty and were stressed due to lack of sustainable income,” Achoka points out.
Janet Lemarun from Samburu county says that farming has reduced domestic conflicts since there is sufficient food in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs).
“My husband is not employed and we are comfortable at home, children are schooling, aside from that, we are restocking our livestock. We no longer move from place to place thanks to farming,”she notes.
Lemarun adds that to promote farming in ASALs areas they plant drought resistant crops like Nyota beans variety and other indigenous plants which she reveals has seen them realise bumper harvest every season.
‘’We practice agribusiness, once we harvest and sell our products, we set aside a small portion of the money for our chama which acts a pool and when need arise, you can easily get a loan to buy farm inputs,” Lemarun adds, revealing this season, she has about four acres under farming on which she has planted maize and beans.
Lemarun is among over 1,000 women from pastoralist areas who have stepped in to be the breadwinners in communities that are yet to recover from the adverse effects of the severe drought of 2022/2023 where thousands of livestock perished.
The pastoral women in farming are as a result of efforts by an initiative aimed at strengthening resilience among pastoralists, which is supported by the Netherland Government under the Laikipia, Isiolo, Samburu Transforming the Environment through Nexus (LISTEN) Project.
By Muturi Mwangi
