Kenyans for Kenya Turkana Project Commissioned
The Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) and the Kenyans for Kenya Steering Committee on Tuesday 16th July; 2013 commissioned an irrigation project in Kaikor area of Turkana County. The project is aimed at providing a permanent solution to the perennial drought experienced in the region through building community resilience and enhancing food security.
KRCS through the Kenyans for Kenya Drought Initiative of 2011 identified parts of the Turkana County as one of the Regions that were going to gain from early recovery initiatives. These initiatives were aimed at opening up land to irrigation in Kaikor location, Turkana North District, targeting three villages with a total population of 15,398 people. The project started in January 2012 with a project life of 12 months through funding from the Kenyans for Kenya Drought Initiative, where Kenyans came together to contribute through mobile telephony and other means, to reverse the fate of other Kenyans who were threatened by death through starvation.
Other projects put up by KRCS under this initiative include four boreholes that have been drilled and equipped, seeds and seedlings bought. Currently, results of the initiative in the dry area, that had never been thought to produce farm products, can be seen as farmers are reaping from the project after growing assorted vegetables that include kales and maize, among other products. The community has also been mobilised into enterprise agriculture/common interest groups with the aim of selling the surplus for sustainability. The farmers have also been trained on kitchen gardens and basic farming skills.
During the 2011 drought, Turkana North was one of the hardest hit areas with malnutrition rates as high as 35%.
