Phylis Nadupoi Matampash (right) and her daughter inlaw Sarah Kone(left) in their Sukuma Wiki Shamba in their farm in Kajiado County. (Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard)

Kenny Matampash, a crop and livestock farmer and an agricultural solutions expert in Kajiado County, says African Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) are crucial to addressing effects of climate change in Kenya.

Matampash says his knowledge in irrigation has helped him grow crops in dry land for commercial use.

“From October this year, I have lost 130 heads of cattle. This shows how urgently Government should engage us to get our views on how to incorporate our indigenous system in improving agriculture,” he says.

The farmer who keeps livestock, rabbits, bees and grows various crops says indigenous knowledge can help in the use of storage of animal feeds and water for irrigation.

“I use my indigenous knowledge to prepare land for pasture conservation. Here, I can conserve Napier grass and beetroots. I have also drilled two boreholes at a cost of Sh4.5 million. I use the water to irrigate crops like maize, vegetables, water melon and yellow beans,” Matampash says.

He has also trained farmers locally and internationally on sustainable agriculture.

Together with his wife Phylis Nadupoi, they now sell their products in Elangata-Wuas, Ilbissil and other markets in Kajiado.

“My knowledge has created a miracle in this arid and semi-arid area. This can be replicated in all ASAL regions when water availability and storage is made a priority,” Matampash says.

Farmers in different regions have already embraced Matampash’s climate adaptation model.

Mary Kiminza, a farmer in Makueni County, says farmers in the region have used IKS to devise innovative ways of water storage to help them plant crops during drought.

The farmers have come together to build a traditional rock catchment system to harvest rainwater, and despite dry weather, the village still has plenty of water. “Residents face an acute water shortage. But with innovative traditional water harvesting techniques, most of them have become food secure and not dependent on food aid any longer,” Mrs Kiminza says.

In Mbeere, another dry land, farmers have abandoned growing traditional crops like maize and have found a way to stay afloat as water becomes scarcer.

Farmers started rearing fish four years ago, after they were introduced to a simple way of trapping and storing rainfall run-off in what are known as “home dams”.

The water is stored in reservoirs sunk in the grounds of a household compound, fitted with a thick polythene lining to stop it percolating away into the soil.