Living our dream: From distressed pastoralists to successful farmers.
After losing their livestock to chronic drought, a small
community group in Kone village situated 130km north of Garissa district, in
the drought prone North Eastern Province of Kenya decided to set up a farming
group - Kone Farmers Self Help Group.
Due to their pastoralist life, the members of the
group had little agricultural experience; CARE International in Kenya through
the Emergency Pastoralist Assistance Group (EPAG) trained the group members
on basic crop production techniques, setting up of tree nurseries, beekeeping
skills, honey processing and record keeping. Additional training was given on institutional
capacity building and business management skills to enable them to manage their
group well.
From the training received from CARE, the group which
consists of 43 men and 5 women now farms on a five acre farm beside the river
and from the recent harvest of maize and water melons, the group made their
first produce sales in Balambala and Garissa towns. Increasing incomes contributes
to improved living standards.
"When we started the farm, we had very little
knowledge of how to organize our group in order to make it cohesive. When CARE
Kenya intervened, we identified institutional capacity building as our basic
need, we received training for which we are very grateful, now we have a vision
for our group." Our farm is now a business, we have opened a bank account with
a local bank and already banked Kshs. 11,000 and we have another Kshs. 20,000
from the sales of water melons which we will bank soon. We are slowly realizing
our dream", says Mohamed Ibrahim Farah, the chairman of the group.
With the business management skills training, some
group members have started six small businesses within the village which
include four home-based shops selling assorted household items, a food cafe and
a tailoring shop. Some mentioned that their confidence to diversify their
income stream and start new ventures has been boosted as a result of the
workshop.
"CARE has motivated us; we can no longer afford to
sleep. Each of us is working hard. I even slept on the farm last night,
guarding the crops against the wild animals." said a determined Farah.
After losing their livestock to chronic drought, a small
community group in Kone village situated 130km north of Garissa district, in
the drought prone North Eastern Province of Kenya decided to set up a farming
group - Kone Farmers Self Help Group.
