This archive report was first published on 12 September 2019.
September 12, 2019
Ngila Kiema, a 35-year-old father of four, was once scooping sand in Muuoni River and loading it onto trucks for a living. However, he has now shifted to growing vegetables on a small plot on the banks of the river.
With the help of a diesel-powered generator, Kiema and his fellow farmers collect water from a shallow well next to the river, which they use to produce vegetables at any time of the year.
"On average, I make Sh1,500 daily from selling vegetables," says Kiema. "This has been our occupation for the past six years following efforts to recover the seasonal river, which had been destroyed by years of wanton sand harvesting."
"On average, I make Sh1,500 daily from selling vegetables," says Mr Kiema. The former sand harvesters have now become champions of river conservation. They have been working closely with the Makueni County Sand Conservation and Utilisation Authority to address the menace of sand harvesting. "We work closely with communities to identify appropriate points in the affected rivers where we can install sand dams," says Halinishi Yusuf, the managing director of the authority. The dams trap sand and thus hold water, which can later be accessed by communities for various uses. "The coarser the sand trapped in a sand dam, the more the amount of surface runoff the dam traps," says Erik Nissen-Petersen, an expert on rain-water harvesting systems. Small farming communities have sprouted around the installed sand dams. Julius Muli's farm on the fringes of Wautu market serves as a model farm where new farmers go for farming lessons.
