Harvesting Water to Save Crops and Lives
By Isaiah Esipisu
NAIROBI, Sep 10, 2010 (IPS) – Peter Kivuti, a 51-year-old farmer from
Eastern Kenya, never relied on meteorological weather predictions all his
life – until three years ago. It was then that rainfall in the region become
less predictable.
Like other farmers from Rwanguondu village, Kivuti trusted the traditional
methods of weather prediction, which had been used by his forefathers for
ages.
“Since I was a small boy, I knew that it was going to rain heavily on March
25, every year. This meant that all farms had to be prepared with everything
necessary by March 23, in readiness for planting on March 26,” said Kivuti.
This trend had been observed within the entire Embu district for ages, until
three years ago when the rain patterns became unreliable.
In 2007 the rains came on Mar. 20, five days earlier. And many farmers lost
their crops because of this. “We were totally disorientated. And by the time
we planted, it was too late. The rainfall subsided long before our crops
became hardy enough, leading to losses that year,” said Kivuti.
However, a new report released on Sep. 6 by the International Water
Management Institute (IWMI) warns that the changes in weather and climatic
conditions may get even worse.
It says that the erratic rainfall related to climate change will further
threaten the food security and economies of many countries, particularly in
Africa and Asia.
While the Agricultural Market Development Trust (an organisation that works
with farmers in Kenya at grass-root level) has advised farmers to prepare
for planting earlier in the month due to changing rainfall patterns,
according to the report this may not be a long-term solution.
The remedy, the report states, is that countries, organisations and
individuals must increase their investment in diverse forms of water
storage.
“Just as modern consumers diversify their financial holdings to reduce risk,
smallholder farmers need a wide array of ‘water accounts’ to provide a
buffer against climate change impacts,” said Matthew McCartney, the lead
author of the report, in a press statement released alongside the report.
“That way, if one water source goes dry, they’ll have others to fall back
on,” added McCartney, also a hydrologist at IWMI.
IWMI is a scientific research organisation focusing on the sustainable use
of water and land resources in agriculture, for the benefit of poor people
in developing countries. The organisation is supported by the Consultative
Group on International Agricultural Research.
The report comes at the time the World Food Program is already implementing
a programme in Kenya, known as Food For Assets (FFA). The programme has seen
peasant farmers from the arid and semi-arid parts of the country harvest and
store water for domestic and agricultural use. The harvesting is done when
it rains – flowing rain water is directed into reservoirs and stored.
Through the programme, beneficiaries of food relief are required to do some
work geared to increasing food security in their community.
“In Eastern Province, we chose dam construction as a project to alleviate
poverty because water has always been the setback,” said Jacobus Kiilu of
ActionAid Kenya, the organisation implementing the FFA project in the area.
As a result, residents still have access to water they harvested since heavy
rains subsided over five months ago. “This is the longest period we have
stayed with rain water – thanks to the dam storages,” said Mwende Kisilu, a
beneficiary from Kyuso village in Eastern Kenya.
In sub Saharan Africa, the IWMI report notes, up to 94 percent of farmers
depend on rain-fed agriculture, yet rainfall in the region is highly
unpredictable.
“Lack of predictability both in the amount and timing of rainfall makes
rain-fed farming extremely tricky,” notes the report.
This is because farmers find it difficult to choose when to plant. “If you
plant your crops too early, you may run into a risk of the seeds failing to
germinate in case the rainfall falters. And like in our case when we planted
too late in 2007, the rain subsided before the crops matured – leading to
losses,” said Kivuti.
But if governments, specifically in Africa and Asia, organisations and
individuals were to take immediate action to increase investment in diverse
methods of water storage, then an estimated 500 million people in Africa and
India would benefit from improved agricultural water management, the report
states.
Though governments of developing countries with fast-growing economies have
invested heavily in large dams during the current decade, the IWMI study
says that more weight should be put on a range of small-scale, well-planned
storage options to improve food security.
The report cites evidence from Zimbabwe, where such basins have boosted
maize yields, with or without rainfall. In Niger, such methods have greatly
boosted the millet yields.
In the northeast of India’s Rajasthan State the construction of around
10,000 water harvesting structures has made it possible to irrigate close to
140 square kilometres of agricultural fields, benefiting about 70,000
people.
However, it was noted that without proper planning of water storage
facilities, the perceived gains may easily become a burden. “Badly planned
storage will not only waste money but actually worsen the negative affects
of climate change, for example, by providing extra breeding habitats for
malaria-infected mosquitoes,” notes the report.