Matarajio Mukuneke women's group
On a patch of unused land just outside Thika an
informal group of 18 women, aged between 36 and 86,
have come together to form a community garden
project. Although the land is sloping and hard to
work, they have cultivated a series of tidy terrace plots that grow maize, millet, onions, and beans.
Each member commits to working a rota of
evenings, and everyone turns up to work on Saturday.
The food that they grow and share is invaluable in
supplementing their diet. Many are widowed or
separated and some bring up children and
grandchildren on their own.
Their social status as lone women is difficult and
with no network of state support they must live by
their own resources.
The community garden was their own initiative and
with the help of Real Impact's professional
agronomists they are gradually diversifying their
crops for better nutrition, and improving the
quality of the cultivation with better agricultural
practice.
Water
Their initial problem was a simple one: water, which has to
be hauled from the bottom of the valley by the
bucket load. We have equipped them with a
mobile pump, water tank and hose. When water is needed the pump
can be taken to the stream and water pumped to
the tank at the top of the hill, then the crops can
be watered or grip-irrigated as needed.
Vermiculture
With water now more easily available, vegetables can be cropped year-round.
But
without animals, soil fertility will drop. This is where the RealImpact wormery comes in. We have built a combined propagator house
and worm composting unit.
Waste organic matter is placed on the tray,
which is kept moist and protected from birds.
Worms are introduced, which in the warm Kenyan
climate, multiply rapidly. A rich 'worm tea' is
produced which trickles into the collecting
bucket. When needed the juice is collected,
diluted with water, and used as a foliar or root
feed for the vegetables.
A sustainable package
The RealImpact package consists of
- year-round irrigation
- low or no-cost soil fertility through
worm compost
- germination started in
propagation unit not in the soil, leading to
greater seedling survival
- nutritional and growing advice from RealImpact experts
- weekly
support from a visiting Real Impact farm manager
Passing on the message
The women's
group is now doing outreach work with youth
groups in the area, and in recognition of the
usefulness of this work the
local authorities have made their occupation
of the land official, which gives them security
that they can continue there without fear of
eviction.
Funded by US AID. Our grateful thanks also to IATP for a grant to achieve
a part of this work.