Furrows in the Desert An agricultural development program

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Furrows in the DesertAn agricultural development
program in Turkana, Kenya
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Turkana is a semi arid region in northwestern
Kenya, on the border with Ethiopia, South Sudan
and Uganda. It is the largest yet
least developed district in the country.
Area of Turkana 77,000 km2 Population
Estimation of 850,000 Temperature 20-400
c Precipitation 100-400 mm/year Evaporation
7-12 mm/day
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Population in Turkana The inhabitants of Turkana
are largely pastoralists practicing a
nomadic lifestyle.
Traditionally the Turkana way of life Evolves
around their livestock for nutritional 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.
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• 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

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• 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

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Long term commitment of partner org. permanent
presence of MCSPA
Developing agricultural methods appropriate for
the area.
lessons in mother child centres

• Model Innovation
• Comprehensive
• Sustainability measures
• On a long term basis

• Establishing a central farm for
• training research demonstration

family scale community scale
Support for marketing agricultural produce
6 months hand on training Training the trainers
Provision of agricultural Inputs for graduates
Ongoing guidance in new farmers family plots
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Program Water Infrastructure

• MCSPA 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.
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Water infrastructure Hand pumps, wind pumps,
tanks
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Water infrastructure Dams
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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.
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Agricultural Models for arid conditions 4 types
based on available water sources
Boreholes based family plots
Liman (runoff water diverted to canals)
Earth Pan plots
Lake Plantations
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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.

Average produce per FDS plot
Production (Kg) Crop type
1800 Tomato
1500 Melon
1700 Onion
900 Okra
2500 Watermelon
120 Sorghum (grains)
3000 Sorghum (fodder)
200 Maize(grains)
1000 Maize(fodder)
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• Crop selection
• Criteria
• Nutritional value
• Resistance to arid conditions
• Good market price
• Resilience to transportation hazards
• Examples
• Tomatoes, okra, onion, garlic, Melon, watermelon
• Sorghum, Maize (for human consumption and
• as fodder)
• Dates, Pomegranates (community plantations)

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Appropriate practices in all stages of crop cycle
Training Curriculum Compost preparation Land
preparation Crop planning Nursery Irrigation Plant
protection monitoring system Weed control Crop
management Post harvest Record keeping
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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

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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

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Central farm infrastructure
Nethouse and Vegetable plots
2nd course trainees and staff sharing knowledge
in the shade
Vegetable plots with elevated tanks and windpump
Preparation for a date plantation
The newly made Liman
Vegetable plots and wind breakers
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First Yields
Central farm Vegetable plots
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Central Farm Nursery Development
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Outreach Points graduates family plots
Narikotome
Lokitaung near the dam
Kaikor
Narikotome
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Kokuro
Kokoselei
Using treadle pump in Lokitaung
Liman plot in Lobur
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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.

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Planning Process and Key Participants
Field survey by Brit Olam and ACSD expert
delegation, December 2011
MCSPA missionaries and Turkana Elders

• 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

Expert visits and record keeping by Israeli
professional field team trainees
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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
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.
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• DOL Master Plan of Food Security
• Main 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

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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_at_mcspa.or
g Maque Falgas (MCSPA, Turkana)
mfalgas_at_hotmail.com Milett Biberman (Brit Olam,
Israel) milett_at_britolam.org Cel.
972-546-347-437