Kitale Morning Star Group
Kitale Morning Star Group look on to illustration during the workshop.
Five members of the Kitale Morning Star Group traveled to Kimilili to partake in the two-day workshop. The group has twenty members.
Those who attended lessons at the Kimilili workshop are as follows:
- Esther Butasi
- Everlyne Kendagor
- Mary Nyambura
- Christine Simiyu
- Susan Lukhanyu
The group paid for their own transport to Kimilili. CBSM community members offered room and board to the women over the three days. It was hoped that the business and agriculture training would benefit the group as a whole. The group attended the training, received a water pump and various types of seeds to take back with them to Kitale.
Kitale Morning Star Group with their seeds.
Observations
- Participants are committed to learning and gathering knowledge through the asking of questions on entrepreneurship and agriculture.
- Participants are hard working and have far reaching goals.
- A major hindrance to development and growth in entrepreneurship is limited or lack of capital.
- The irrigation kit earlier recommended may not be as effective and durable as the ones purchased from Kickstart. Moreover, Kickstart Super Money Maker pumps have a one-year warranty and offers basic trainings and field demonstrations on agriculture.
As reported by Rev. Wasike the local village representative of the Kimilili Community:
The drip irrigation kits are only advantageous if water has to be fetched and not pumped. There is also the fact that the super money maker system needs a lot of water and irrigates the whole mass of land, whereas the drip irrigation system needs much less water and only irrigates the plants and this makes the plants grow deeper roots than the other system. The other system makes plants grow their roots spread out and thus you have less plants growing on the land than the drip irrigation. The drip irrigation system is only meant to last 3-4 years. And even less if unless proper care is taken and the garden plot is well fenced or walled land to avoid moles, poultry and animals. Whereas, the kickstart pump could last a much longer period of time. So, there are different considerations for adopting each system.
Drip irrigation is best in less water environment. Can do best in desert or semi desert, it properly makes use of available water without wastages, the plant continuously in contact with water flow as water drips in controlled manner in that amount of drip is controlled to not be wasted and also water only drips directly to the plant not its surroundings. Drip irrigations also can be good for small farming not very large farming. Requires less manpower the system is self-processing in that once it is set and water supplied to the bucket gravitation force enables the dripping of water naturally.
The kickstart pump, requires much water, can draw water from far and irrigate another long distance, it is manual and wastes a lot of water in the process as it is mass land watering just like rain. It has long life span and can be used in areas were there are good sources of water. It needs money power.
We have come to learn that all groups cry for pumps rather than drip irrigation. This is because there is a very high cost of time and patience need in setting up the drip irrigation system including fencing etc without which we have practically seen in Kitale the system damaged (Esther system was spoiled and disappointment comes in a minute).
Recommendations
- Empowerment of the Kimilili women coop groups through incorporating them in the identification and selection of viable projects in their diverse contexts. Choosing projects for them may not be effective.At the end of the training workshop, we had a feedback session to listen to participants, asking them to comment on the way forward and where they thought we could improve our training. We learnt that each group is unique in its own way; their various needs stem from their various circumstances and need to be addressed differently. We learnt that we need to make an analysis for each group and discuss the possible solutions together with group members. We learnt, for example, if we say we are buying cows for all groups to generate milk and sell for income then for domestic use for their family members, it would be best and popular to do so among the groups, but it would not be suitable for those groups that are living in rental houses in town, but best to up country groups like that of Kibingei and Janerose’s group that have space to graze the animal etc).
The workshops were successful with the active participation of participants. There is great potential in the members and their environment is also conducive for agricultural activities. With support, Kimilili Women coop will achieve greater heights. There is need to help this community unlock their potential.
