About 41 women groups involved in farming in Laikipia have benefited from water tanks, geared towards improving their livelihood and economical sustainability, courtesy of UN Women.
Speaking during the handover of the 80 tanks in Nanyuki, Laikipia Governor Joshua Irungu said that partnering with women-led organizations would ensure residents benefitted at the household level.
“Our main aim is improving the livelihood of our people starting from the household level and by providing water tanks, it helps them do water harvesting for kitchen garden farming,” said the Governor.
He noted that the issuance of tanks was in line with his manifesto, which included giving out 50,000 water tanks, aimed at addressing the water crises in the county.
Irungu said that many families were relying on kitchen gardens for their daily vegetable needs, where the surplus was sold to supplement the family’s daily income.
The Korean International and Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Kenya Director Janghee Im said that apart from farming, women were sensitized to understand their roles in the society and take up leadership positions.
“This project model is to change the rural communities through women, and we have selected about 41 women groups from Laikipia, who have been trained and supported with assets aimed at ensuring they get empowered and become independent,” said Im.
Im said that they were also carrying out similar projects in the counties of West Pokot and Kitui.
KOICA through the UN Women and Food Agricultural Organization had invested about $4.4 million to promote women in the three ASALs counties to practice Climate Smart farming for a four-year period.
Meanwhile, apart from water tanks, the women benefited with 71 dam liners, 117 beehives, 145 honey harvesting suits, eight water pumps and eight shade nets targeting to improve their income.
A beneficiary, Priscilah Miring’u, lauded the empowerment project noting that with the water tanks, it would be easy to store water for farming even during dry spell.
By Muturi Mwangi
