After being unable to conduct in-person field work due to Corona-related travel restrictions, NaBWIG supported IHE researchers Pooja Prasad and Annelieke Duker were finally able to resume their field work in Kenya in January 2022!

Pooja spent a week in the Toroka river basin, where IHE MSc student Davis Nyongesa was studying the use of sand river by the local Maasai communities for livestock keeping and crop farming.

Thereafter, Pooja and Annelieke spent a few weeks in the Olkeriai river basin, also overlapping with IHE MSc student Caroline Cheptoo who conducted her Masters’ thesis research studying irrigation investments in Olkeriai basin. We interviewed local landowners, farmers, tajiris and agricultural extension officers. We conducted group discussions with the Maasai mamas who have organized themselves in tomato-harvesting groups.

On January 25, 2022, We organized a workshop on with local stakeholders at the Oltepesi cultural center, Mashuuru. Here, we facilitated an investment pathway game with the participants to understand the drivers of different decisions made by farmers and landowners (such as leasing their lands, crop choice, irrigation practice etc.). We also discussed the perceived limits (if any) to the current growth of irrigation in the region.