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Tea Buffer Zone May Be Key to Halt Mara Clashes
- Details
- Published on Monday, 16 July 2007 23:13
But constant thefts forced the couple, who live at Poroko - about five kilometres from the Gucha-Trans Mara district border - to do away with livestock rearing and venture into farming. They keep only a few cows to supply them with milk for domestic use.
The couple had all along wondered why tea - which does well just across the border - is not grown in Trans Mara. So in 1994, they experimented with planting a few seedlings on a one-and-a-half acre plot.
To their surprise, the crop not only did well but became their major source of income. The couple became members of Ogembo factory in Gucha district, where they would deliver their harvest.
But sporadic hostilities between the Kisii and Maasais would not allow them to ferry green leaf to the factory.
"We used to have many animals. But they would be stolen during the raids. We sold them and we keep only a few cows to supply us with milk," Rebecca told the Sunday Nation at her farm.
The violence has also not spared Mzee Osoro Nyanchiri, who lives near the common border. Although tea does well in his area, he has not been keen on growing the cash crop for fear raiders would invade any time and slash it down.
His fellow villager, Ibrahim Nyamatare, 25, attributes the conflict to idleness among the youth.
Over the years, Mzee Murero Yiampoi, from Enoosean in Trans Mara, has also seen tribal clashes come and go. "We are used to tribal clashes. People would fight and kill their neighbours."
The presence of two almost permanent General Service Unit police camps - one near Nyangusu and another at the 2,600-acre Keiyian Group Ranch in Enoosean, about 30 km away, is a clear indication that hostilities between the two communities might flare any time.
Mr Yiampoi, who is also the Keiyian Group Ranch chairman, is among those in the forefront of planting tea along the 70-km long border between Trans Mara and the larger Kisii district to create a buffer zone between the two communities.
The tea-belt, initiated by Ewaso Ng'iro South Development Authority, stretches for 10 km from the border to just a short distance from Kilgoris town.
The State corporation is not only encouraging the Maasai living along the border to change their lifestyle, but offering them free technical advice.
Project officer Peter Maasay, tasked with overseeing the planting of the seedlings, says the "high-yielding genetically-improved universal clone (31-8) matures in less than a year. The authority is selling it to farmers at Sh 5 a seedling, instead of the normal price (between Sh 25 and Sh 40).
The authority chairman, Mr Jonathan Kirorei, says the authority, which also intends to initially acquire a Sh 86 million, 500-acre land for a tea estate in the district, is implementing the project in collaboration with the farmers, Kenya Tea Development Agency as well as the local county council. "The project will cost Sh 50 million and Sh 40 million in the first and second years respectively."
The authority's managing director Francis Nkako says the project, launched last July by Regional Development minister Mohamed Abdi, is "a catalyst for development".
"Ours is about politics of development. Our main aim is to improve security along the Trans Mara/Kisii border. The tea will also help reduce poverty among the Maasai and Kisii people. The crop will help attract good roads and electricity. It will stimulate other economic activities, including banking."
Local MP, Immigration minister Gideon Konchella, says the project's main aim is to improve security and reduce poverty among the two communities.
"Tea will provide jobs for the Kisii and Maasai. It will bring and make them work together. We want to live in peace."
Former area MP Julius Sunkuli says the project "is viable." "Maasai land is idle along the border. When it is filled with tea, it will be a good buffer zone."
Mr Konchella says the government has promised to set aside Sh 200 million for the project in the 2006/7 financial year so farmers can buy seedlings at only Sh1.
The Group ranch manager, Mr Charles Musekenya, says the ranch aims to fill 200 acres with tea within two years and cover 500 acres within five years. The Group planted the high-yielding tea on a 26-acre plot last April and is now ready for harvesting.
A farmer at Kilgoris, former Kenya National Union of Teachers deputy secretary general Jonathan ole Kimeei, says of the proposed tea-belt: "This is one sure way of ending conflict between us and the Kisii along our common border. Such a buffer zone is also needed along Trans Mara and Kuria districts. But I am not sure tea can do well there."
Mr Nyanchiri says the buffer zone will help reduce border conflicts between the two peoples. "This is a welcome idea. There will no longer be an open field to provide a fertile ground for battle."
And Mr Nyamatare argues that the project will especially benefit the youth from Gucha area. "In Gucha, which is a highly populated area, most youth are idle. Tea, being labour-intensive, will create jobs. It will create many employment opportunities."
Mr Ngare, who has 500 seedlings on his plot on the Gucha side, says: "If the project succeeds, it will harmonise relations between us and the Maasai. Idleness will end. People will have no time to scheme against their neighbours."
Mr Ibrahim Kibirash, 50, from Olomisiushi in Trans Mara, hopes the conflicts, which date back to 1950s, will soon become a thing of the past.
Kapune sub-location assistant chief Richard Korgoren said the project will help "create understanding" between the two communities.
Mzee Nturkuyio Salgata, 60, who has planted 1,500 tea seedlings, is not worried about tribal clashes. He is concerned about the gains the crop will bring him. "I am sure tea will help improve our standards of living."
Mr Nkako, the authority boss, does not promise the buffer zone will bring the conflict to an immediate end. "Conflict resolution is a process. We are not promising miracles. But we hope that in five to 10 years, there will be harmony between the two communities."
