NAIROBI, March 11 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's arid lands were once dismissed as unproductive because of the tough climatic conditions in the regions that include high temperatures and low rainfalls.
Due to the harsh conditions, some of the areas have only been good for beef production, with residents over the years relying on relief food.
But the variation in climate has changed the fortunes of the regions as at least in the last two seasons, it has been raining more in the arid and semi-arid lands than in other parts of Kenya.
The areas include Garissa and Mandera in the north, Makueni and Machakos in eastern, Kajiado in the south and Tharaka Nithi and Embu in central Kenya.
During the October 2019 to January rainy season, these areas received the highest rainfall, according to the Meteorological Department.
Wajir, Garissa, Mandera and Isiolo in the north, for instance, received more than 30mm of rainfall in a day, leading to floods in many places.
And in the March to May rain season, Stella Aura, the director of meteorological services, notes most drylands including Wajir, Garissa, Mandera, parts of Marsabit and Isiolo in the north and the lowlands, Kajiado, Kitui, Makueni, Machakos and Taita Taveta, are expected to receive rainfall that is higher than the long-term average amounts.
Sorghum, chicken pea, maize, beans, onions, tomatoes, green grams, pasture grasses and watermelons are some of the crops thriving in east African nation's drylands.
While initially these crops could not be grown without irrigation in the region, the crops are currently being farmed under the rain-fed system.
"For the first time since I started farming in Kajiado, I grew maize in October last year relying on rains," Vincent Wanyonyi, a farmer in Kajiado county, south of Nairobi, said on Tuesday.
Wanyonyi, who works in the city center, said the rains that lasted for four months were adequate to support the crop.
"I have installed the drip lines on my farm but they had no work because the rains were more than adequate," he said.
Tomatoes, onions and traditional vegetables are some of the crops that thrive in the county, with the area currently being the biggest supplier to the capital Nairobi.
Over the years, farmers have been growing them under irrigation, but last season, the crops were farmed under the rain system, with the deluge turning a boon for vegetables but a menace for onions and tomatoes.
In Garissa and Wajir, some of the driest regions in Kenya, tomatoes, onions and melons are the major crops farmed there with the harvest ending up in Nairobi.
Ali Harrow is one of the horticultural farmers in Mandera, farming onions on 14 acres and supplying the produce to Nairobi.
"Onions are ready for harvest in three months and if the rains are steady in the first month, the crop does well," he said.
And in Makueni and Tharaka Nithi, sorghum, chickpea and green grams are grown in plenty thanks to enhanced rains.
Initially, farmers in the regions relied on water pans and sand dams to store water for irrigation, but with the rains increasing in intensity, this is no longer necessary.
Beatrice Macharia, an agronomist with Growth Point, an agro consultancy in Kajiado County, explained that besides the enhanced rains that the regions are receiving due to climate change, the arid areas are very fertile since the lands have remained fallow for many years.
"Years of over-cultivation and excess use of inorganic fertilizers have destroyed soils in many arable areas. But in arid areas, soils are fertile because some of them have never been ploughed. In Kajiado for instance, farmers are growing crops without the use of any fertilizer and are still harvesting in plenty," she noted.
She added that in most arid regions, pastoralism is a major economic activity thus soils are fertile because of animal production, with the cattle dung providing good manure.
