Taita family sets up climate smart farm

A few miles up a steep hill in Mrangi village, Taita Taveta County, lies a green haven. Should the owner achieve his ambitions, it will become a model on climate change adaptation in regards to alternative farming methods.

The breeze blowing through our vehicle’s windows as we drive up the meandering murram roads saves us from the sweltering heat. Outside, we see many baobab trees and bone-dry vegetation. In most parts of the hill, we can barely spot human settlements. After a two-and-half-hour drive from Voi town to Mr and Mrs Kisombe’s farm lies, we finally step out, and the weather, unlike where we have come from, is bearable. There is a cool breeze.

There is life here –there are green vegetation, tall bamboo trees, tree nurseries, flowing streams, buzzing bees, cows and chickens.

The smiling Esther Kisombe welcomes us to her home. She is accompanied by eight people, including her husband Charles Kisombe.

Esther is the founder of Uzima Women’s Group, which is looking to diversify agricultural methods to sustain livelihoods in the wake of climate change. Together with her husband, an agriculture enthusiast, they teamed up to deal with the unprecedented situation on climate.

“I want my farm to be used as a model for any other person that is willing to take up other forms of agriculture because we are living in a different time; climate change is real,” says Mr Kisombe.

As the expansive county experiences dry conditions, some of the residents that Healthy Nation spoke to say that almost four decades ago, some crops that flourished there barely grow these days.

In Ghazi village, a few kilometres from Mrangi, for instance, residents used to grow sugar cane, pawpaws and rice, but not anymore. Dominic Kiwanda, an elder in the village, says the Taita people have always practised subsistence farming.

“We no longer have water-logged areas so we cannot grow rice. Over the years, there has been a lot of deforestation. I think this is what has led to the devastating climate change effects in this area. Even our seasonal rivers dry up earlier than usual,” he explains.

The Kisombe family, however, has not let these problems define their farming practices.

“I started this dream way back, when I was part of the 4K club. There we learnt farming methods, practised and carried the knowledge home. When we started facing dry seasons and water scarcity, I thought of implementing some of the ideas I learnt back then,” Mr Kisombe says. “I decided to invest in drip irrigation. It cost me about Sh278,000 but it has paid off.”

Apart from the crops in his farm, he is also restoring the environment by planting indigenous trees; he currently has about 10 types. His wife, as the chairperson of Uzima women's group,  has received training on beekeeping funded by World Wide Fund for Nature-Kenya (WWF-Kenya) under their Climate Change Adaptation project funded by BMZ-German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation through WWF-Germany.

“I have 13 beehives, and because of the trees we have planted here like the passion fruits, the bees like being around here and they help with pollination as well,” she explains.

Dr Martin Mulama, the WWF Southern Kenya Landscape Manager says the programme has benefited over 23 other groups in the Tsavo conservation area.

“Embracing nature-based ventures in an ecosystem can help to provide food and financial security and at the same time build resilience and adaptation to climate change,” he explains. Living in an area near a forest has made the Kisombe family learn to co-exist with some of the animals in the forest.

“We have planted pigeon peas because monkeys love them. When there’s no food in the forest, we allow them to eat our pigeon peas as well,” Esther says.

A Pan-African post-Covid recovery report dubbed the Green Recovery Project released a week ago shows that embracing smart agriculture as a way of dealing with the impact of climate change can help to ensure food security.

“Over 86 per cent of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is rain-fed. When food systems are supplied by rain-fed agriculture, even moderate changes in rainfall patterns can have a huge negative impact on productivity and food security,” says the report.

The report explains that adverse climate events like flooding, drought, and highly variable temperatures have resulted in soil degradation, which in turn leads to low crop yields for most small-scale farmers, like the ones in Taita community

“African countries should scale up investment in climate-smart agriculture as a major way of linking their post-Covid-19 recovery with climate action,” explains the report.

It further states: “Investment in smart and innovative irrigation technologies for dry-season crop and vegetable production could significantly increase productivity and cut down on the importation of vegetables and other food commodities.”

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