Furrows in the DesertAn agricultural development program

in Turkana, Kenya

Turkana is a semi arid region in northwestern Kenya, on the border with Ethiopia, South Sudan and Uganda.

It is the largest yet leastdeveloped districtin the country.

Area of Turkana: 77,000 km2

Population: Estimation of 850,000Temperature: 20-400 cPrecipitation: 100-400 mm/yearEvaporation: 7-12 mm/day

Population in Turkana

The inhabitants of Turkana are largely pastoralists practicing a nomadiclifestyle.

Traditionally the Turkana way of lifeEvolves around their livestock fornutritional and cultural needs.

Occasionally they would gather wild fruits, hunt wild animals and gather honey. Often they would trade with neighboring tribes for maize, beans and very limited verity of vegetables and grains.

The main problems facing agricultural development in Turkana:

• Harsh environmental conditions.

• The lack of know-how in developing agriculture in arid land.

• Difficulty to bring expert agronomists and skilled manpower to the area on a long term basis.

• The deep cultural gap between the herders way of life and farming way of life

• The lack of transportation infrastructure and markets

Program Goals:To introduce agriculture in Turkana North, as a means for:

• Food production towards food security in the area.

• Income generating activities for the local population through the marketing of agricultural production

Model Innovation: A comprehensive, long term sustainable approach

Establishing a central farm fortraining research & demonstration

Developing agricultural methods appropriate for the area.

Provision of agricultural Inputs for graduates

Ongoing guidance in new farmers’ family plots

Support for marketing agricultural produce

family scale & community scale

Long term commitment of partner org. permanent presence of MCSPA

lessons in mother & child centres

Model Innovation: Comprehensive

Sustainability measuresOn a long term basis

6 months hand on trainingTraining the trainers

Program Water InfrastructureMCSPA water infrastructure In Turkana North:

• rock water dams (107 units)

• earth pans (89 units)

• boreholes (over 165 units)

• wind pumps (28 units).

Planning Strategy: Following UN recommendations, we first harvest rain water by rockdams in the mountain side, or earth dams and pans. This is especially geared towards meeting the needs of the pastoralists’ herds. The dams are designed according to the geo-physical conditions.

Further downstream we drill Wells fitted with handpumps, windumps or solar systems to meet the domestic needs of the population and to start agricultural developments.

Water infrastructure: Hand pumps, wind pumps, tanks

Water infrastructure: Dams

Community participation and management

The builders of rock dams are local people who have been trained in the art .In each location with a water facility, water committees are trained and enabled

to run the facilities .

Agricultural Models for arid conditions:

4 types based on available water sources

Earth Pan plots Lake Plantations

Boreholes based family plots Liman (runoff water diverted to canals)

Family Plots

Family Drip System (FDS): low cost, Gravity based, Water and labor efficient

A typical FDS family plot:

(500 m2 FDS, Additional 500 m2 traditionally irrigated)

Supports the family nutrition.

produces 10 times more produce than needed for family consumption (calculated for 6 people). The surplus is used for marketing to generate income. provides all year round produce (4 crop cycles). Typically each cycle will include 2 crop types.

Crop typeProduction (Kg)

Tomato1800

Melon1500

Onion1700

Okra 900

Watermelon2500

Sorghum (grains)120

Sorghum (fodder)3000

Maize(grains)200

Maize(fodder)1000

Average produce per FDS plot:

Crop selection

Criteria:• Nutritional value• Resistance to arid conditions• Good market price• Resilience to transportation hazards

Examples:Tomatoes, okra, onion, garlic, Melon, watermelonSorghum, Maize (for human consumption and as fodder)Dates, Pomegranates (community plantations)

Appropriate practices in all stages of crop cycle

Training Curriculum

Compost preparationLand preparation

Crop planningNurseryIrrigation

Plant protection monitoring systemWeed control

Crop managementPost harvest

Record keeping

FID Central training Farm in Lobur

Design:Vegetable plots (500 m2 each , Family Drip Irrigation system) 3 net houses 1 Liman plot 1 Earth Pan System (1 Family Drip Irrigation system) 3 date plantations

Central training Farm: Location

• Close to Lobur MCSPA mission for infrastructure and logistical support.

• Land is secured under a letter of allotment from Turkana County Council and from the elders of the local communities.

• Water availability from 2 windmill-operated bore holes.

• Security measurements are in place.

• Local community in the vicinity.

• Accessible to visits by locals, government officials and representatives of commercial enterprises

Central farm: infrastructure

Vegetable plots with elevated tanks and windpump

Nethouse and Vegetable plots

The newly made Liman Preparation for a date plantation

2nd course trainees and staff sharing knowledge in the shade

Vegetable plots and wind breakers

First Yields

Central farm: Vegetable plots

Central Farm: Nursery Development

Outreach Points: graduates family plots

Narikotome

Lokitaung: near the dam

Kaikor

Narikotome

Liman plot in Lobur

Kokuro

Using treadle pump in Lokitaung

Kokoselei

Project Beneficiaries 2014-2016

• 360 local families of project graduates (direct and indirect) owning family plots who will enjoy improved nutrition, additional fodder and income.

• Graduates' circles of relatives and neighbors who will enjoy improved nutrition.

• 300 families of local workers to be employed in 3 community plantations on the banks of Lake Turkana.

• Other members of the local communities who will generate income for their families through secondary jobs based on agriculture and marketing, e.g. food processing, food preservation, transportation of produce to markets, etc.

Planning Process and Key Participants

MCSPA missionaries and Turkana Elders

Field survey by Brit Olam and ACSD expert delegation, December 2011

Expert visits and record keeping by Israeli professional field team & trainees

• Joint planning and ongoing revision by

the 3 project partner organizations each

contributing its own expertise

• Selection process of local trainees in collaboration with the local community

The Diocese of Lodwar (DOL) functions as a central development agency in Turkana.

FID is supported by DOL through MCSPA as a pilot agricultural program. Once its success will be proved, the program model may be applied in other parts of the county as well as other semi arid regions.

FID is run in coordination with the local government and with the full approval of the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture.

Delegates of Kenyan government and World Bank visiting FID new training farm, summer 2012

DOL Master Plan of Food SecurityMain Survey Findings (2012): • Crop production is the 2nd ranked livelihood source in Turkana after livestock production. • Crop production is mainly at subsistence level.

• There is high latent potential of water and arable land

• There is much motivation of locals to be self-sufficient.

Main Recommendations: • Capacity building of local people in agriculture

• Promoting irrigated agriculture using rain and underground water harvesting • Using dry land high value crops, especially vegetables and fruits • Expanding fruit and vegetable market in Lodwar and neighboring towns

• Linkage of local farmers to the available markets in the growing towns.

For further reference:

Missionary Community of Saint Paul the Apostle (MCSPA)www.mcspa.org

Brit Olam – International Volunteering and Development

www.britolam.org

Arava Center for Sustainable Development (ACSD)

http://arava.org

Contact persons:

Albert Salvans (MCSPA, Turkana): albert.salvans@mcspa.org

Maque Falgas (MCSPA, Turkana): mfalgas@hotmail.com

Milett Biberman (Brit Olam, Israel): milett@britolam.org

Cel. +972-546-347-437