Tired of waiting for relief food, Nyandarua IDPs turn to farming

By JAMES MUNYEKI

Living in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp has its fair share of problems. One of these problems is hunger. Many IDPs have to rely on inadequate food donations, which leaves them in constant state of want and puts their children in danger of malnutrition.

This is, however, not the case anymore for a section of IDPs in Nyandarua North District who have started an initiative geared towards mitigating hunger in their camp.

Fearing that they might die of hunger waiting for the Government to give them food, the IDPs at Gwa Kung’u camp decided to act.

The internal refugees initiated arable farming in a land sub-divided among members.

Initially all post-election violence victims, who relocated from Kiambaa IDP Camp in Kiambu County, wanted was to feed themselves. But they ended up with small enterprise farming.

Food rations

The group is now harvesting cabbages, spinach and kales for sale, in the neighbouring towns of Ndaragwa, Maili-Inne and Nyahururu, where the demand for the commodity exceeds the supply.

"We are going to get good money as the crop seems to be doing well even without enough water while the demand is also high," said Charles Kariuki, the chairman of the project.

He says that with a bigger farm and irrigation, the IDPs can produce more since the farm is fertile.

For nearly three years, the victims have been relying on relief food from the Government until the question of how they could supplement the food rations came up. That was when they started this project.

"When these people were forced to leave, they did not just lose their homes.

"They lost their livelihoods. Most of them were farmers," says Kariuki. About 400 families are scraping out an existence in this 69-acre land they bought from the Sh10, 000 given to them as compensation by the Government.

"I think the problem here is food and a place to call home," says Kariuki. "These are people who can do much better than they even used before they were displaced."

Kariuki says that lack of money, water, and farm inputs are their challenges. He notes that the families have to trek for several kilometres to collect water for domestic use and irrigation.

"What we need is a water pump. We are appealing to the Government to help us set up one," Miriam Gathoni. Gathoni, 75, says this will make them stop relying on relief from the Government.

"Our people do not have time to waste demonstrating against the Government. They are busy working," she boasts.

The IDPs say if someone can help them develop a savings co-operative credit society so they can access credit facilities then they might just shed off the pathetic lives they have known in the camps.

Need support

They say the support they received from the Government and other well wishers cannot sustain them. David Gitau, 79, a resident of camp, says he needs money to boost his agriculture.

"I have seven grandchildren who live with me and our economic activity is farming, so if I could get some cash, this would increase," Gitau said.

He observed that agriculture could make IDPs independent. Gitau says he has visited several IDP camps to come up with a solution to their plight.

"We shall do what we can. People who have been resettled should engage in activities to improve their livelihoods," he says.