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Kenya: MAGNAM Helps Community in Food Security with Household Income Generating

Magnam Environmental Network acronym MAGNAM is a community Based Organisation (CBO) that initiated a homestead food security model project along the shores of Lake Victoria in Kisumu, Kenya. Magnam is a member of Kenya Nile Discourse forum (KNDF).

The organization is encouraging the youth, women and any interested person to replicate what they have been doing for purposes of improving food security and to generate income as well.

The project initiative entails production of different types of food like vegetables, sugarcane, bananas among others. The main crop they do in large scale is sugarcane.
In March this year(2021), the organization came up with a product that they sell to generate income. This is value added sugarcane juice which they sell at their outlet called Ten Cent Business Center.

The value addition is done using lime/lemon, ginger, thorn melon and beet root. Some visitors like the juice since it has some products that are claimed to have the ability to deter COVID-19 disease.

The value added sugarcane juice has brought quite a number of people to Magnam Ten Center to either learn how they carry out the project or to get a taste of their juice. According to Nyaguti, if such a project is up scaled, it has the potential of creating employment thus reducing poverty to the local community and those living at the shores of Lake Victoria.

Availability of food will also ensure healthy families that are able to focus on other areas of development a part from constantly engaging in looking for what to eat at the expense of other areas of need.

The project was visited by officers from the public health to ensure compliance with public health standards especially during this era of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Content generated by Michael Otieno Nyaguti/ Kenya
Solar lantern used in Sardine drying and fishing at night

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TANZANIA: Harnessing Solar Energy for Sardines Fishing


The Fishers Union Organisation (FUO) is Tanzania Nile Discourse Forum (TNDF) a popular member known in in fishing of Sardines. FUO has come out with a project on Renewable Energy for night fishing of Sardines in Lake Victoria. The basic purpose was to replace kerosene lanterns for fishing.

In 2005, FUO was established by a group of fishermen who are highly motivated and committed to contribute their time, skills and energies for the development and empowerment of socially disadvantaged and vulnerable communities in Tanzania alongside protecting fishers’ rights and addressing poverty issues and gender-based discrimination.

Also, the project envisaged to build capacity of fishers on innovative high quality sardine-based products as well as monitoring and evaluation.
The purpose of these interventions was to reduce food losses, improve incomes and nutrition from fishing systems.

Over the last two years, three prototype iterations and pilot projects of Solar lamps and Sardines drying solution have been carried out at Kasalazi and Zilagula islands alongside supply of solar lamps in the entire Mwanza Region.

Sardines contribute more than 70% total income in fishing areas of Lake Victoria. Night fishing of sardines constitutes about 42% of the total yearly catch of Lake Victoria alone.

Approximately 35,000 boats are engaged in this activity, encompassing Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya.

This means that over half a million liters of kerosene are exposed to the lake almost every night, emitting over 600,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. This is a prominent example of a problem which is tackled presently.

Kerosene is expensive. Up to 60% of fishermen’s monthly income is spent on fuel and maintenance of outdated and unreliable kerosene lanterns. Kerosene is dangerous and can cause respiratory illnesses, skin irritation, and most importantly, fire inducing bursts, threatening fishermen’s health.

It is harmful, threatens entire marine ecosystems, and massively contributes to greenhouse gas emission. Also, drying sardines on sand is a major challenge since it reduces market value, income, and contributes to high post-harvest loss during rainy season.

FUO and Sagar Energy Solution Ltd have initiated the new technology of using solar lamps and solar drying solutions in Lake Victoria to improve sardine value chains.

The following results were achieved through these interventions:

i. Solar technologies were developed and promoted for fishing and processing/preserving fish species
ii. Knowledge developed and disseminated for sustainable fishing and fish processing systems
iii. Improved marketing strategies and nutrition benefits from sardines

Success stories of the project

Solar Lanterns contributed to a 40% increase of income earned by fishermen. FUO in collaboration with Sagar Energy Solution Co ltd have managed to design and develop sardines drying solution alternatives, whereby three models of prototypes were developed and tested at Zilagula Island in Sengerema District.

These prototypes were used to showcase designs with similar functionality with the real plant to be established. The project will further construct plants in some islands for drying sardines.

The following are the benefits expected from this alternative:
i. Sardines are dried in three hours less than the normal drying system.
ii. Dry sardines are not contaminates with sand at all
iii. Sardine drying can be undertaken throughout the year under all seasons even during the rainfall seasons
iv. The drying solution alternative is economically beneficial to fishermen and fishing community by adding value hence increasing the sardine market value and hence price

Author: Hadija Malimusi
National Technical Support Expert /Tanzania
Community sensitization in Seme Sub county Kit Mikai social hall, Kisumu County, Kenya on 18th Feb 2021

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A Kenya NDF member sensitizes community on the need for women and PLWDs to own property including land

Uhai Lake Forum - a member of Kenya Nile Discourse Forum (KNDF) organized a community sensitization forum in Nyakach, Seme, and Kisumu central sub-counties to disseminate findings from the desk review report for baseline information on women and people with disabilities; on land rights and environmental issues affecting their access to justice during the COVID 19 pandemic.

The objectives of the sensitization were to share the findings from the desktop review report with the community, and to identify challenges experienced by women and people with disabilities in access to justice and property rights linked to environment and natural resources.

Key issues emerged from the discussions:

Women rarely have any land in their names, making them very vulnerable in the case of divorce or 'widowhood'. In the likelihood that they are disinherited, they are left with no means of production and sustenance.  The treatment of women as users and not owners of family property has increased their vulnerability through the instances of denial of their customary rights to be joint beneficiaries of family property. This has an impact in gender development within the affected areas leading to inequitable development.

In many communities women's access to, use and control of land is largely determined by their marital status and in the case of 'widowhood', to their relationship with male members of the immediate family of the deceased husband.  Many studies that have been done across the country to determine the cultural practices on land ownership, inheritance and property rights depict how women bear the brunt of negative cultural practices, that continue to support male inheritance of family land to the detriment of the women’s rights.  Women are regarded as belonging neither to the homes into which they were born, nor to those into which they are married. This leaves them out of the inheritance cycle both ways. Underlying this is the very absence of women in the traditional justice mechanism as witnesses or judges in this.

Challenges experienced by women and PLWDs in access to justice linked to Environment and Natural Resources:

The challenges identified in the forum that hinder access to property by women and PLWDs include: negative cultural practices that gives men more prominence, lack of awareness by women, discriminatory official responses by male government officials, stigmatization of persons living with disabilities, corruption by the administrators, introduction of online courts due to COVID_19 pandemic, discrimination encouraged by law, lack of participation by women, fear and expensive legal system.

Conclusion:

Women’s access to land determines not only women’s and households’ level of living and livelihood, but also food security. Due to the existing obstacles, women’s property rights are abused and they are therefore impoverished by lack of access to land and property.

Culture evolves, and as important as culture is, if they are a source of discrimination against women, they must evolve.  This is crucial not only for the sake of women’s equality, but because there are real social consequences to depriving half the population of their property rights. Women’s insecure property rights contribute to low agricultural production, food shortages, underemployment, and rural poverty.

If Kenya is to meet its development aims, it must address the property inequalities that hold women back.

Author:
Tom Onyango
National Technical Support Expert/ Kenya