Harvesting hope: How innovative irrigation technique is reviving drought-stricken farms

Gladys Kiluni’s farm in the heart of Kako village, Makueni County paints a vivid picture of hope amidst the backdrop of frustrations. Lush green grass, rows of Sukuma wiki surrounded by an eclectic mix of fruit trees—mangoes and pixies are scattered across the 2.5-hectare farm. The holes dug into the earth signal a recent plantation.

It was not always like this. When Gladys married into the family, she was met with stories of despair and struggles. Her in-laws, who once lived on the same farm, spoke of meagre yields and the futility of farming. Erratic rainfall and persistent drought pushed them out of the farm, and they relocated to another area with hope of better yields.

“When we decided to start our life here in 2013, they said surely, what are you hoping to harvest from that land?”

Makueni County, like many other parts of the country, has had its share of climate-related impacts. Prolonged drought cycles and reduced yields are storylines that the residents know too well. During the 2019 drought that ravaged East Africa, more than 100,000 residents in Makueni County were severely impacted. Yet, for many households, agriculture is the very bedrock of survival.

A 2021 study by Cornell University reveals that global farming productivity has declined by 21 per cent since the 1960s, equivalent to losing seven years of farm productivity growth, all due to climate change.

We are standing at the edge of a farm pond that her family dug a few years ago. “When we relocated to this place, it became even more evident why our parents had migrated. For instance, we had to get water from the other side of the village. “This pond is our lifeline.”

Gladys irrigates the farm from the harvested water, ensuring that her crops thrive even in dry seasons. It’s not just farming; they also treat water for domestic use.

Gladys doubles as a primary school teacher and a farmer. Although she works full-time as a teacher, she tells Climate Action that farming is now her primary source of income.

The secret to turning the once bare land into an arable one lies in clever engineering. A trench runs from the feeder road next to her home, leading into the water storage pond. The water is channelled into the reservoir in a rainy season like now. “We then pipe it into storage tanks for later use. We have dug some drains into our farm and planted mango trees. There is also an outlet that drains the water to neighbouring farms, ensuring no rapid buildup of flood peaks after the rainfall,” she says.

The road infrastructure in this area and other parts of the county is strategically designed to benefit the communities and bolster their climate resilience.

“We incorporate water harvesting in the design and construction of our county roads whereby we are using the runoff water to benefit the farmers living near the roads, hence protecting our roads from erosion and mitigating the impacts of climate change,” offers Engineer Michael Maluki, green roads for water county program coordinator, Makueni County.

The project, spearheaded by the county’s infrastructure department, began in 2016 after a sensitisation training dubbed “Green Roads for Water.”

“I took this as a personal initiative because I originate from Kilifi County, which experiences dry seasons and a periodic ravaging drought. My colleagues and I learned that conventional road designs can be turned around and roads made into instruments for rainwater harvesting, food security, and climate resilience. We started by creating awareness in the community, but it has not been an easy journey. For starters, water and roads are enemies. Many asked, “If water and roads are not friends, why are you bringing the water into our farms?”

A valid question, he says.

“What drives the transformation is a variety of techniques and collaboration and coordination between road engineers, water practitioners, agricultural officers and interactions with the local communities, who are trained, awarded certificates, and become ambassadors of the project. When the water is harvested, it’s a two-way win—the community benefits from the runoff, becomes climate resilient and our roads are protected,” he offers.

For much of the year, Benjamin Muuo works on his five-hectare farm, where he has planted various trees, avocados, pixies, and mango trees.

“I currently have around 500 pixie trees,” offers the 31-year-old BOM teacher. Muuo is one of the farmer’s that depends on the road run-off water for farming.

“I have more than three cut-off drains interconnected inside my farm. When I embraced the project in 2019, I noticed a significant difference in my produce. For instance, my earnings from pixies have almost tripled in just three years,” he says.

Engineer Michael explains that the cut-off takes a specific angle and contour from the road.

“We want the water levelled. We use an A-frame tool to make the contours to prevent water from flooding the farms or forming gullies. Besides the cut-off mitre drains, we have taken other approaches such as non-vented river drifts, cross drains, and quarry borrow pits for run-off water harvesting and storage. The water soaks down to the water table, where it can be pumped out in the dry season for use in the homes or on the fields,” he says.

Ndinda Maithya, country engagement manager for Voices for Just Climate Action at Hivos, calls for protection of the agriculture sector.

“Agriculture is the backbone of our economy, and adaptation is urgent amidst growing climate impacts. We need to take a shift so we can respond fully to the grim realities of climate change. For this to happen, these changes need to be community-led, changes that they can relate to. Further, interface climate adaptation solutions in the development agenda of climate financing and climate diplomacy,” she shares.

Climate finance supports developing countries’ transition to low-carbon, resilient economies. Developing countries like Kenya require hundreds of billions of dollars in investment annually to help them adapt to the rising threat of climate change.

New research from a new alliance of farmer networks representing over 35 million small-scale producers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific, reveals that just 0.3 per cent of international climate finance goes to family farmers who produce a third of the world’s food. In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, smallholders’ finance needs are estimated at around $170 billion per year.

Without this investment, more extreme floods, droughts, and water conflicts will continue taking place, putting more lives at risk and on the edge of extreme poverty.

As it stands, Ndinda adds, there are many gaps in global adaptation finance.

“We have been getting most of our financing in the form of loans. How sustainable is that? and who bears the burden of paying back the loans? I think climate financing for developing countries should not be offered as a loan,” she says.

As we lead up to COP28, Dr Sultan Al Jaber, the President of COP28, last month called for greater efforts to tackle adaptation finance gaps.

“To guarantee an inclusive and equitable transition to low-carbon and resilient growth, the voices of emerging and developing countries must not go unheard. COP28 must leverage an adequate response to the Global Stocktake and set out a pathway to fill the financing gaps and address shortcomings in the global climate finance architecture,” he offers.

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