By Monica Soila
A team comprised of members from
ALIN and Dupoto-E-Maa organizations visited Noontoto
women group in Maili Tisa along
the Nairobi-Namanga highway in a quest to find a feasible group for the
implementation of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA), Act! Project.
Noontoto was started in 2003, consists of 25 members and has quite
some essential resources which include a green house and solar pump courtesy of
Dupoto-E-Maa, a house for business, two water tanks,50 plastic chairs and 2.5
acres of land. Some donors from Sweden
bought them the land and also built the house for them.
The group at times leases the
building to teachers from the area hence fetching some income. They have
unsuccessfully grown tomatoes three times. This is due to water scarcity and
disease infestation. During the rainy season, the group harvests between 5-10
bags of maize from the 2 acre piece of land.
“This place is fertile and has
potential of producing even better yields, with proper utilization of these
resources”, said Joyce Nairraba, the group’s chairperson.
They are however faced with some challenges.
Lack of water leads to little or no harvest at all. Pests, diseases and general
lack of agricultural know-how hinder their performance financially.
An intervention by extension
officers from the Ministry of Agriculture or any other organization, to boost
their capacity on agricultural issues, can go a long way in helping the group
realize their full potential, otherwise with all those resources; it might not
amount to much.
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