By Leopold Obi, BRACED
NANYUKI, Kenya - Women
herders in Kenya's semi-arid Laikipia County have broken with tradition to
export the leaves of a desert plant to Europe, boosting their incomes. Three
hundred women in El Poloi have switched from the age-old occupation of
goat-keeping to the new and far more lucrative activity of farming aloe, a
plant with healing properties.
Along the way, they are
transforming their economic status and creating educational opportunities for
their daughters.
Drought-prone El Poloi
lies to the northwest of snow-capped Mount Kenya in the Great Rift Valley.
According to the Kenya Meteorological Department, the area receives less than
400 mm (16 inches) of rainfall annually.
Only a few hardy shrubs
and savannah grass can survive on the harsh terrain. The community's women say
their men used to journey miles to Mount Kenya in the dry season seeking
grazing for their herds, while the women and children stayed behind without
enough food.
Knowing maize and
vegetables would not produce good harvests in this climate, the women decided
six years ago to cultivate Aloe secundiflora, a plant common to semi-arid parts
of Kenya.
They formed four groups
tasked with fighting poverty and gender inequality. Each group farms at least 3
acres (1.2 hectares) of the short-stemmed succulent plant.
Rosemary Putunoi, a
leader of Twala Cultural Manyatta Women, said her group was given 40 acres (16
hectares) of dry, eroded land to farm by the men of the community in 2008.
"We then saw an
income opportunity in growing osunguroi (aloe), which we traded for goats from
our men. We planted aloes on 2 acres to start, and 12 roots of the plant (could
be) exchanged for a goat," Putunoi said.
The men used the aloe to
brew a traditional fermented wine made of the pounded roots mixed with water,
sugar and honey.But the benefits of aloe cultivation did not end there.
The women discovered the
plants reduced erosion and improved the soil, enabling grass to grow. So they
decided to charge fees to herders who wanted to graze animals on their land. They
used that money and proceeds from their aloe sales to pay for their daughters
to be educated.
Read the full story at Building
Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED)
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