Director,
T.E.(Terry)
Manning,
Schoener 50,
1771 ED
Wieringerwerf,
The Netherlands.
Tel:
0031-227-604128
Homepage:
http://www.flowman.nl
E-mail:
(nameatendofline)@xs4all.nl : bakensverzet
and
"Money is not
the key that opens the gates of the market but the bolt that bars them"
Gesell, Silvio The
Natural Economic Order
Revised English
edition, Peter Owen,
“Poverty is created scarcity”
Wahu Kaara, point 8 of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, 58th
annual NGO Conference, United Nations,
02.03 INFORMATION ON THE KIOGORO PROJECT AREA
General information.
The Kiogoro
Division is one of the six administrative divisions of the Kisii central
district. It is divided into five locations and six sub-locations. The Division
covers and area of about 200 km2, being about
The Kisii area is
"cosmopolitan" the major groups present being Bantus (Kisii, Kikuyus,
Luo, and Akamba). Most of the people are Christians, both Catholics and
protestants. Other traditional sects such as
Muslims are also present.
Extended family groups are
large and each household can have from 8 to 15 members.
Literacy.
The literacy level of the area
is about 67%.
There are 42 primary schools
and 18 secondary schools in the project area. In all the sub-locations in
the Kiogoro area there is a severe
shortage of secondary schools.
The reason for low enrolment
in secondary schools is the high drop out rate mainly caused by lack of money to
cover school fees and lack of basic facilities in the schools. Students from
wealthier families seek admission in schools outside the project area which
better facilities.
There is a severe lack of
facilities in primary schools, and for evening classes and vocational training
centres, to cater for the growing educational needs of the population.
Constraints
to development.
The major constraints
inhibiting the industrial development of project area especially in places such
as Kegati, Matunwa, Menyikwa and Nyanchwa, include inadequate infrastructural
facilities, underdeveloped human resources, inadequate and poorly developed
local raw materials, inaccessibility to credit facilities and poor marketing
systems. Lack basic education and skills are inhibit chances for gainful
employment in the formal economy.
The local
authorities are the Kisii District Assembly and village councils.
The Kiogoro area is
one of the poorest areas in
The average annual income is
about Ksh 135050 (€ 935) per person per year. This means that a typical
extended family of 10 controls an annual income of € 935.
Local production the area is
mainly subsistence farming, i.e. crop production . The crops mainly planted are
maize, beans, potatoes, tea coffee. Annual individual income depends on the
agricultural land one owns. Most producers are small-scale farmers who depend
solely on their farms. Income is spent on subsistence; family upkeep; school
fees; medical care and the remaining income has to go back into the farm for
more production.
The income earned varies as it
depends on farm output and casual jobs that are carried out by the families
involved. The earnings depend on the type of work one does e.g. teachers earn
more because they have a constant income from their employment. Casual
labourers, especially if they are landless, earn less. The rural poor in the
project area comprises widows, orphans and those owning less than half an acre
of land. This group constitutes the agricultural wage labour force.
General quality of life is low
because of the poverty in the area and the limited resources available.
Some traditional occupations
still carried out in the area are those geared towards life. They include
traditional birth attendants and herbal medicine dispensing.
There are practically no
"modern" or tertiary economic activities. Some self-help groups such
as merry go round income generating projects have been formed. Bicycle taxis,
known as “Boda boda”, are very common.
There is no electricity supply
network in the project area, not even in the larger villages. Rural communities
depend on other sources of fuel, mostly Kerosene. Over 90% of the people in the
District, in both the urban and rural areas, use wood fuel. The total lack of
electrification in rural areas is perceived to be a major handicap to their
development.
Water is perceived
as a major problem especially in rural market centres and isolated rural areas.
The average annual
precipitation in the area is
There are two rainy seasons,
long rain season goes from March to August. The short rain season is between
October and November. These seasons are appropriate for agricultural growth.
Both crop planting and harvests are done during these two seasons.
Current sources of drinking
water are piped water, boreholes, springs, , wells and rainwater from roof
catchment.
The supply of water is
inadequate to sustain both the domestic and industrial needs, because the
available water sources have not been fully harnessed. Springs are protected by
various agencies dealing with water and sanitations.
In the project area there at
present just 16 boreholes, and about 62 wells, most of which are just a few
villages. In 33 of the 50 localites there are no water facilities at all. The
piped schemes are too expensive for the area because they are diesel operated.
Some farmers have sunk their own private shallow wells
Average amount of drinking
water currently available is only
The water resources in the
District are mainly, surface and sub-surface sources. The surface water is
obtained from Rivers flowing from the Gucha and the Nyanchwa hills. The main
river is the Gucha which is joined by a number of streams on its way to lake
Victoria. From Riana, the Nyamache feeds into the Gucha river as it winds its
way towards
The cost of water depends on
the availability of the water and the degree of treatment if any it has
undergone. The average distance from the homesteads to the water source is
about
Where water is purchased or
where carriers are hired to fetch it, the average cost can be as much as € 3.5 per person per month, which alone is
more than the total monthly contribution of a family of ten to this integrated development project. Very
few people, even in Kiogoro town, have piped water in their homes.
Water is stored in pots, tins
and tanks.
Water from open wells and from
rivers and streams is contaminated and is usually consumed without further
treatment for drinking, cooking and personal needs. Water-borne diseases such
as malaria, typhoid, dysentery, gastroenteritis, and skin diseases are endemic.
They affect the quality of life and the productivity of the people, and medicines
consume vital parts of the incomes of those affected.
Rain water harvesting is done
by a few people who have large storage facilities. The rainwater is collected
scale in ferro-cement tanks, large plastic tanks, and dams. Water tanks are
cleaned at least once a year before the rains.
Hot water is not common and is
practically limited to hotels. The amount of hot water used by the population
is very low. Hot water must be heated using wood fuel. It is expensive and not
cost effective.
Of the 50 villages in the
project area, 10 have wells, 7 have boreholes, and 33 have neither wells nor
boreholes. The presence of wells in 20%
of the villages indicates that the water table in those villages is not very
deep, so that new water sources for the project could probably be hand-dug
rather than drilled. Where no wells are present, it is thought that water can
be found at depths between 40 and
The main sources of
staple food are farm produce, hence the district is a zone with a high agricultural
potential. Food production comes from the local farms, which are a major source
of food in the district. Local production is mainly maize and beans. Other
horticultural products such as, potatoes, onions, and carrots are also grown.
Local consumption depends on these products and the consumption costs depend on
the availability, season and demand.
Some traditional storage
methods are also used.
Some foodstuffs, such as tea, sugar, coffee, but even maize and meat
are imported into the area to meet the demand for food.
The size and nature of
landholdings vary from small-scale to large-scale farms. Rural houses are
usually built on the farm or land holding. Both men and women do farm work.
This often depends on whether family members also have other jobs.
Farm surpluses are usually
sold to the government so that they can be directed to other areas in need of
the type of food in question.
Malnutrition has been
increasing in the district. Diet-related diseases as Marasmus, Kwashiorkor are
manifest. Cases of malnutrition are highest among the landless population who,
because of lack of ownership of land, cannot diversify their food production
and intake. They therefore consume the available food with total disregard to
its nutritional value.
Local food processing includes
milling.
Cooking is the most
energy intensive activity in the project area.
Cooking is currently done over
an open fire, leading to intense air pollution both inside the houses and in
the community.
Fuels used for cooking are
wood and petroleum products such as kerosene and gas. Of these wood fuel is the
predominant fuel in both rural and urban areas, and it is very expensive. The
cost of a bundle of wood for fuel is €1,40. Kerosene costs €0.35 per litre and
a bag of charcoal €3,50.
Each family typically uses
10kg of wood per day or about 3.5 tons per year. The typical cost of this fuel
is €42 per family per month. The total consumption is 28,000 tons of wood per annum
in the project area with 8000 thousand families at a global cost of some
€4.032.000. Savings on this amount alone over a period of ten years is
sufficient to pay for the entire project costs.
All staple foods are cooked
usually by women. Each meal takes between 30 minutes and 1 hour to prepare,
depending on the available fuel and the type of foodstuffs. Large parts of
meagre family incomes are therefore spent on fuel for cooking. The
unsustainable use of wood leads to deforestation and erosion, air pollution and
health hazards. Moreover, the traditional cooking methods used are inefficient.
The project therefore introduces highly efficient stoves. They will be locally
manufactured within local currency LETS systems.
Bio-mass needed to fuel the
stoves will also be locally produced and treated, without limiting the use of
the natural fertilisers in local agricultural production.
Locally manufactured solar
cookers will also be introduced where daytime cooking does not contrast with
local customs. An important part of all loan repayments and expenditure under
this project will be funded by introducing energy efficient stoves and growing
bio-mass for fuel.
The project will bring major
savings in the costs of cooking. These savings alone will cover most if not all
of the monthly contributions made by the families to the project.
Kerosene lamps are
mostly used for lighting especially in rural areas. Kerosene and electricity
are used in urban areas. An average of
The kinds of
transport available include bicycles, taxi motor bikes and public service
vehicles for easy communication to various destinations. The means chosen
depends on the distance and where the person is going and the type of transport
used. Bicycle taxis and motor bikes are the most characteristic means of
transport in the area. They charge a minimum € 0.17 per kilometre. The wet
seasons restrict the use of the bicycle taxis which used more during dry
season. A vehicle costs passengers € 0.35 per km. They tend to be used on the
better roads, though some operate on bad roads as well.
The roads in the rural areas
some are seasonal and murram roads.
During the wet seasons, most
of the roads in the project area are impassable due to the mud etc. and people
have to walk long distances. Pickups are also widely used for transportation.
During the rainy seasons the transportation of farm produce becomes difficult
if not impossible.
The means of
communication in rural areas are scarce. Minimal telephone services are
available. Some people have a mobile phone. Postal services are also poor and
centralized in the larger centres. Few ordinary people use these forms of
communication which tend to be limited to business, security, and leisure. The
telephone services are expensive. Land line charges are about € 0.70 per 3
minutes. The cheapest mobile handset is € 70.
Infrastructural development
with improved means of communication are perceived to be very important in the
project area. Even trading centres in the various sub-locations lack telephone services.
Basic hygienic
principles such as washing hands before meals and after visiting the toilets,
boiling of drinking water, building of pit latrines and personal cleanliness
are commonly applied. There are no courses available for training women. School
courses include a basic introduction to personal and environmental hygiene.
Universal basic hygiene aspects are followed by most of the households.
The health facilities in all
the sub-locations in the Kiogoro area are inadequate to serve the populations.
The health facilities are ill equipped and often experience shortage of
medicines, necessitating patients to travel to the district hospital in Kisii
for treatment, thus causing congestion there. This imbalance can be only partly
addressed under this project, which cannot substitute the basic obligations of
the state.
The major causes of infant
mortality throughout the project area are malaria, diarrhoea, typhoid, HIV/AIDS
and intestinal worms. The project can make an important contribution in the
fight against these diseases by providing clean water sanitation and improved
drainage, and by eliminating smoke hazards, stagnant waters, and ensuring a
more varied diet.
The people have
generally no private sanitation facilities.
Toilet structures (mostly in
the towns) are made by use of locally available materials such as bricks, wood
and stones. They mostly take the form of the VIP-ventilated improved pit
latrine. Urine and excreta are disposed in the same latrine. The cost of
building one of these VIP latrines is € 140 per latrine. People use leaves,
papers and water to clean their bottoms. There are no specific cultural taboos
concerning urine and excreta. Customs related to privacy have, however, to be
observed at all times. This means that one should not be seen disposing of
waste.
Rural areas in the project
area in general lack proper latrines altogether.
Rubbish in the
project area is mostly domestic. The amount reflects the size of the family.
Rubbish is put in a compost pit and later used as farm manure. In rural areas
there are therefore no costs involved.
In urban areas rubbish is
collected by the sewerage department for disposal by the municipal council. A
fee for rubbish collection up to € 14 per month is charged.
Rubbish in the project area
which is not disposed of properly poses a health hazard and allows flies, rats
and other pests to breed. It also causes bad smells.
The project includes setting up
local recycling centres to add value to waste products. It enables recycling of
some materials within the local currency systems. Export of residual waste
materials will provide formal currency income to repay micro-credit loans
advanced to the recycling centres.
Most houses in the
project area are made of wood, grass, mud (thatched houses) bricks, blocks,
stones and iron sheets. The size of the houses depends on the size of the
family and income of the person. Some houses are big and others are small.
Locally available building materials include bricks, blocks, wood, mud, grass,
sand, and leaves. The quality of the house depends on the type of material used
and architectural techniques applied. Seasonal heating is not required here.
Next file :
02.04
List of villages in the project area.
Back to:
02.02
General information on the Nyanzara region.