Widows in Machakos empowered through goat rearing

At least 50 widows in Kathiani, Machakos County have benefited from 100 goats donated through the Steve Down's Goat Foundation that seeks to lift the living standards of vulnerable families living below Sh100 a day.

The non-profit organisation seeks to donate at least 100,000 goats to 50,000 families in select counties by December next year.

The Goat Foundation has so far donated 200 animals to families in three counties including Machakos, Siaya and Kitui.

“We offer long-term and sustainable solutions that cushion widows and low-income households from the climate disaster regions by giving them two goats to rear,” said Mr Down, the CEO and founder of the foundation.

He said  goats can survive in the harshest climatic conditions and generate a source of livelihood for the most affected households.

Machakos Senator Agnes Kavindu, who accompanied the officials to Kathiani, also donated bags of rice, cooking oil and greengrams to widows in the area.

“This is just a token to help cushion these families but I will table a bill in the senate so that Machakos can be under the drought mitigation program due to the climatic condition of this area,” Ms Kavindu said.

The major problem in the region is water scarcity posed by the effects of climate change.

This has made households vulnerable to hunger as drought spells have resulted to frequent crop failures thus aggravating the need for food aid.

At least 73 percent of the population in Kathiani depend on agriculture as their major source of livelihood.

But due to adverse effects in the agricultural sector, people in the constituency have opted for sand harvesting.