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Title: Horn of Africa: Bumper harvest at irrigation schemes in midst of hunger
Author: Barnabas Bii
Category: Food and Land
Date: 8/1/2011
Source: Daily Nation, Kenya
Source Website: http://www.nation.co.ke/
Summary & Comment: In the midst of famine, farmers in Turkana that are part of an irrigation rehabilitation programme have more than enough food. Yet this is a limited success story, with less than 10 per cent of arable land in the region being utilized. Families that are not so lucky are starting to resort to charcoal production, even though they know the ecological dangers of deforestation; with delayed aid, they are going hungry. CJW
Bumper harvest at irrigation schemes in midst of hunger
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Bumper+harvest+at+irrigation+schemes+in+midst+of+hunger+/-/1056/1211212/-/e1amiez/-/index.html
As 400,000 families face starvation in Turkana, farmers on the banks of the rivers Turkwel and Kerio have more than enough food. The farmers, with the backing of the Turkana Rehabilitation Programme, invested in an irrigation scheme and harvested more than 930,000 kilogrammes of grain from land that the locals thought was not fertile enough for crop production. “The region has over 76,000 hectares of arable land under irrigation but less than 7,000 hectares is utilised,” said Turkana Rehabilitation Project programme director James Kipkan.
Investing in assets
“Humanitarian agencies should consider investing in assets where locals can be assisted to generate their own food instead of depending on aid,” appealed Mr Kipkan. But human and environmental conflict is looming in famine-hit areas of the arid area as families turn to the charcoal business to raise money for food. “We have no source of income after almost all our animals died of drought while others were stolen by rustlers,” said Ms Ayele Logorot, from Kalapata. But what she makes is not enough to feed her seven children as a bag of charcoal fetches Sh200. A 2kg packet of maize flour costs Sh210 at the nearest Lokichar trading centre. “It is not that we are unaware of dangers posed by cutting trees but there is nothing we can do after the Government and well-wishers delayed in supplying us with food,” said Aragapi Ewoi, a charcoal dealer at Nakaale area.
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Bumper+harvest+at+irrigation+schemes+in+midst+of+hunger+/-/1056/1211212/-/e1amiez/-/index.html
“Humanitarian agencies should consider investing in assets where locals can be assisted to generate their own food instead of depending on aid,” appealed Mr Kipkan. But human and environmental conflict is looming in famine-hit areas of the arid area as families turn to the charcoal business to raise money for food. “We have no source of income after almost all our animals died of drought while others were stolen by rustlers,” said Ms Ayele Logorot, from Kalapata. But what she makes is not enough to feed her seven children as a bag of charcoal fetches Sh200. A 2kg packet of maize flour costs Sh210 at the nearest Lokichar trading centre. “It is not that we are unaware of dangers posed by cutting trees but there is nothing we can do after the Government and well-wishers delayed in supplying us with food,” said Aragapi Ewoi, a charcoal dealer at Nakaale area.
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