Desert Greenhouses in Turkana Kenya

Problem

1. Lack of Food, Hunger and Starvation among the nilotic herders of Turkana County in N.W Kenya. As desertification grows across the sub-saharan Africa, livestock is diminishing and so there has to be a plan B to livelihood-Small scale agriculture. This is the only way.

Solution

1. Provision of greenhouses that help to use less water as the County is a very large dry arid and semi arid land mass.

2. Borehole drilling to provide water. However, water tankering has been used before and has been proven to be good.

3. Help input small scale farm tools to better production and save the hard labor. 

If scaled globally, this solution am providing will help to reduce global dependency on food aid especially for the pastoral communities around the world. Subsistence farming in greenhouses is able to provide food for atleast 120 million herders across the world.

Description

Hunger is not new to nomadic people, infact they are the most enduring kind of people ever known. But over the past decades, it has become a big problem and starvation and deaths have been reported all over the world. 

Many lives have been lost over the past years while people had a chance to practice small scale agriculture even during the short rains times and even save water. 

By intercropping crops with fibrous roots like kale, spinach and passion fruits etcetera can be helpful. Farmers can grow many crops in a small piece of land and maximise food availability.

Lack of nutritious food that can easily be grown is a problem that should be solved for these pastoralists who already have a bad health record  as they lack some nutrients in their diets. 

Problem Scale

In out of ten randomly selected households, seven would go hungry everyday in my nomadic community. In my opinion, this means, millions of people starve worldwide since 50 million of 120 million pastoralists in the world live in sub saharan Africa.

Factors Contributing to the problem

Climate change, disappearing water sources and grazing lands, poor local economies and infrastructure, animal diseases and poverty.

What it is

This solution involves a series of greenhouses set up across an arid and hot but fertile community land. These greenhouses will share a common borehole from the community while storing water at the same time in tanks within the farm to help in times of hardships. All the necessary inputs within a normal greenhouse will be set and ready to go. 

What it does

Offer an alternative to pastoralists to adapt to changes in their livelihoods. Willing community members will provide labor in turns to help in the daily activities of the farm. This will mean that there will be no expenses on labor charged to the farm. 

All proceeds from the farm will be shared by community members each according to the directive of their own management and daily running of activities. As it is sustainable, future growth might lead them to sell farm produce too to local markets.

Processes & Technology 

Greenhouses have proven to be a skillful art of crop farming all over the world. As for this arid and fertile land, bringing in this art will change lives on a massive scale. 

Local manure is readily available so there's no usage of fertilizers.  

Nomadic pastoralists whose lives have changed drastically over the past decades. Young people have migrated to live in urban centers while seeking jobs and hence leave the elderly and the younger behind herding livestock. 

They are people that need a good way to help them grow their own food however small scale it could be. GOs & NGOs have tried to transit from food to cash distribution inorder to sustain livelihoods but it seems like the problem with hunger is still not done with.

Water is a big major challenge for this people. It is going to challenge this project too as there's only one borehole pump. Closer mountain ranges and hills around the community land may also help in water harvesting during short and long rains seasons.

The people of Kaatukuri Community in Turkana County have benefited from The World Bank servicing and repairing their only ruggedly and old water pump. I have lived with them, is my community and I am passionate to help them. I am their son and they are willing to work on this project for the better good.

The need to get food without cost will be a great advantage to help sustain life.

Hunger affecting pastoralists whose main source of livelihoods is livestock that is no more is a great challenge to solve. 

Nonetheless, humans never cease to innovate greater ways to solve their problems.

Pastoralists are labor oriented people and working for themselves in a new endevour that involves literary less than their usual tedious and hard herding activities is a walk in the park.