Water and elbow grease: change makers

By Dr. Jill Wood

    This is Nkando. It is very dry and rocky with little vegetation other than cacti and acacia trees. It is where I have been working with our partner women’s groups for the past week.

The women are farming a variety of ways as best they can in this harsh environment. Goats, we have discovered, do surprisingly well here. They are able to browse the shrubs and short grasses and find what they need. We are excited about the introduction of small ruminant training for our women’s groups this year.

    None of the women here milk cows though; there simply isn’t enough of the high energy feed dairy cows need to produce. The women have responded very favourably however, to our poultry program. Chickens do just fine here and the women are especially attentive poultry keepers. The birds are valuable to them given the limited alternative livestock options in the area. 

    Like the vast majority of the women’s groups we work with, the Nkando women’s groups were provided with water tanks when they first signed on as Farmers Helping Farmers partners in 2021. Water is so fundamental to everything else we do. This cannot be stressed enough and is of particular importance in a dry area like Nkando. By reducing the need to walk to the nearest kiosk for water (where water has to be paid for), the women have more time to devote to their shambas and are better able to provide water for their livestock and gardens. 

     Success cannot come from water alone though. The women must be dedicated to using the water judiciously and strategically and must work hard to maintain coops, weed gardens, tend to saplings and feed azolla ponds. These are just a few of the examples where I could see farmyard access to water making a huge difference in Nkando. 

    On our way to a training session, we stopped by the Grace Sisters tree nursery where they had recently sold many of their trees to neighbouring schools for planting. Numerous members were inside the screenhouse tending to the new plants they had started in order to maintain their supply of products. Avocado trees, lemon trees, meru passion and tree tomato were all thriving in the Kenyan sunshine. 

    On another day, we stopped by member Rosemary’s shamba after a group training session because I had learned she had an azolla pond and I was hoping to see one. Azolla is an aquatic plant that is high in protein and makes an excellent supplement to chicken feed. The ponds are easy to maintain with timely additions of water and manure and provision of shade. Rosemary did not know we were coming, but everything looked like it had been prepared for company! Her chicken’s waterers were full, her goats water trough was full and her azolla pond had lots of healthy looking azolla growing.

     I asked if she was worried about the rains not coming and things getting so dry that she may have to give up the azolla pond. She told me no, she was not worried because if her tank did not have rainwater, she would be able to purchase water from the local water line with the income from her egg sales. She said the azolla pond only required water top ups about once a month and even when it was very dry, twice per month. She was confident that was something she could keep up with, even during dry spells.

     So let’s think about that…. The azolla helps reduce her feed costs and maintain a healthy flock. That healthy flock lays eggs that nourish her family and provide extra income. The extra income can pay for water that will keep the azolla pond flourishing… it is a beautiful circle of success. When Farmers Helping Farmers helps with a few of the basic start up needs (water, seeds, chicks and knowledge) and you add in the elbow grease and perseverance of these incredible women, you see the wheels of positive change in motion.