Pond that turned my farm greener

Timothy Mburu in his farm (left) and next to the pan he uses to water his farm (right) in Kieni, Nyeri County. He farms mainly potatoes, cabbages, garlic onions and green peas on four acres under irrigation. PHOTOS | SAMMY MBURU | NMG

What you need to know:

  • The farmer has turned his farm in the semi-arid Gitinga village a small ‘Israel’ as those who visit call it in reference to his efficient water management.
  • The water is directed into the pan through a 2-feet deep, 500 metres long furrow.
  • First, he wrote a proposal to the US Embassy seeking funding for his water harvesting activities. Though the initiative was not funded, it was approved.
  • Potatoes remain his major crop on the four acres, and he rotates them with cabbages, as well as garlic.

If the history of farmers who have embraced water harvesting were to be written, Timothy Mburu’s name would not miss in the list.

The 38-year farmer from Kieni, Nyeri, is among those who have taken up water harvesting on such a serious note that he feels pain when he sees rainwater going to waste.

The farmer has turned his farm in the semi-arid Gitinga village a small ‘Israel’ as those who visit call it in reference to his efficient water management.

Mburu farms mainly potatoes, cabbages, garlic onions and green peas on four acres under irrigation. He has dug a 25-feet deep water pan on half-an-acre, which has a capacity of more than 40 million litres of water. It is his main source of irrigation water, with the farmer harvesting water during the rainy season.

The water is directed into the pan through a 2-feet deep, 500 metres long furrow.

“Kieni is a semi-arid area, but water harvesting has turned my farm into an oasis,” he says.

Mburu, who holds a diploma in landscaping and horticulture, says he embarked on building the water pan in 2008 after working shortly as a landscaper.

First, he wrote a proposal to the US Embassy seeking funding for his water harvesting activities. Though the initiative was not funded, it was approved.

In 2010, he did other proposals to government-related institutions that include National Environment Management Authority and luckily, he got some Sh400,000 funding and a further Sh700,000 loan, money that he has since repaid.

WATER PAN

To construct the water pan that cost him Sh1.2 million, he dug a pit for about 20 days. Later, he strengthened the walls by compacting the soil to ensure they do not crumble and later fenced it off.

Mburu uses water from the pond to farm potatoes, harvesting from an acre at least 80 100kg bags.

“I get 10 bags of potatoes from an eighth of an acre. That is usually my target and so far, I have achieved it thanks to my water pan,” says the farmer, who grows the crops under irrigation.

Recently, he harvested from three-quarter-acre 10,000 pieces of cabbages that he sold at Sh40 each. He rotates green peas with potatoes with the legumes helping to fix nitrogen in the soil.

“An eighth-acre yields 600 kilos of green peas, each going for Sh100. Expenses are minimal at Sh2,000.”

Potatoes remain his major crop on the four acres, and he rotates them with cabbages, as well as garlic.

“To be sure of the seeds I am planting, I make my own on the farm and grow them using both organic and inorganic fertilisers,” says Mburu, who grows the shangi variety.

Meshack Wachira, an agronomist from Novixa International Ltd, advises that seed potatoes should be picked from healthy plants. “You have to consider development of the mother plant. Besides being healthy, it should be free from diseases and deformities,” he explains.

The seeds, according to him, are first planted in a nursery bed for two months. The plantlets are then transferred to an open field.

“Handle the seedlings carefully to avoid damaging the tender stems. Plant them just the way potatoes are grown. In 90 days, they will be ready for harvesting.