Farmers from western Kenya could not hide the joy on their faces last summer as they filled a large truck with watermelon they had grown themselves. Abdi Khalim was one of the only farmers to experiment with a horticultural crop within the first planting season using the irrigation scheme established by Kenya Red Cross in the Kerio Valley.
Many of his fellow farmers grew maize and beans to stock up on
food crops during the dry season, but Abdi wanted to try a cash crop, and it paid off. He made approximately $400 (CAD) selling his harvest.
The Pokot and Marakwet communities of western Kenya had never experienced such a bumper harvest, and many had never farmed on this scale (each of the 1000 farmers were allocated a ½-acre plot to farm). The Pokots are traditionally a pure pastroralist community who keep livestock rather than farm crops.
The irrigation scheme, funded by the Canadian Red Cross over two years and across 500 acres of land, has changed the life of the two communities. Farming in this area has become a source of food and income, and has also helped to maintain peace between the Pokot and Marakwet communities who have historically fought each other over land and other resources.
Abdi Khalim says that Kenya Red Cross has really helped him to improve his life as he had no source of income before the project started.
“Kenya Red Cross has helped us as a community; we can now enjoy the fruits of our hard work unlike before when the rain failed us,” he said.
Harvesting four tons of watermelon has really encouraged him and, with water piped from a local river through sprinklers given by the Kenya Red Cross, he will continue to specialize in horticultural crops.
Luke is a fellow farmer to Abdi, and said, “Kenya Red Cross has given us good seeds, fertilizer, chemical and sprinklers. I’m grateful since this has helped me a lot and I have plenty of food for home use and for market.”
Luke said he had not harvested much that before. He harvested seven sacks of maize and one sack of beans from his ½-acre plot. He also grows vegetables from the same plot and no longer needs to buy them from the market.
Find out more about how the Canadian Red Cross is helping
improve the lives of people in Kenya.