Rehabiliating landslide sites in KENYA

Landslide rehabilitation     by Mwangi Mumero

Across the rainy and hilly East African highlands, landslides have become a threat to farming communities and water resources.

Very often during the rainy seasons, huge tracks of land- sometimes measuring over a hectare- has been declared waste land after a massive landslides.

Farming communities have been rendered destitute after their farms and crops are washed off in a landslide.

In early 2010, landslides in Bududa, eastern Uganda, near the Kenyan border left 80 people dead as well as destroying their crops and livestock. Massive relief effort to supply food and other needs had to be instituted by the government and aid organisations.

But now organisations are working with local farmers in helping curb future landslides as well as making the degraded sites more useful.

For instance, when Jane Wanjiru, a resident of Mukurwe village in in Gatanga division, Murang'a County, Central Kenya woke up one morning in 2007, she could not believe how a part of her 4 acre piece of land had changed overnight.

“ It was a period of heavy torrential rains. Overnight, it was if a heavy load of load had been placed on a section of the land which had started sinking. We felt scared”, remembers Wanjiru, in her mid-thirties.

Hilly and sloppy, Gatanga nestles close to the shoulders of Aberdare Ranges close to Ndakaini Dam- the reservoir that supplies the city of Nairobi with over 70 per cent of its water needs. It is also a tea growing area with the region supplying three processing factories.

It is prone to massive landslides that have rendered big chunks of farms inaccessible and dangerous – threatening food security and household economies.

Degradation of this land also affects the rivers that serve Ndakaini Dam namely Thika, Chania Kayuyu and Githika.

“ Often, local farmers believe it is an act of God and do little in terms of thinking of the best ways to prevent future landslides. Others just leave the degraded sections unattended -reducing their food production capacity, increasing poverty levels”, observed Polly Wachira, project officer with Sustainable Agriculture Community Development Programme (SACDEP) , a Thika-based organisation working with landslide victims in rehabilitating landslide sites.

According to local experts, landslides occur in hilly areas with deep soils and heavy rains. Often with excessive removal of trees, such areas are usually bare and prone to erosion.

During heavy rains, part of the land soaks up huge amount of water and cannot hold the weight of the soil and slides downwards leaving huge gullies in their wake.

“ Part of this hilly land moved and almost covered up our spring- the only source of water for local households. We suffered immensely with the destruction of our water source”, remembers Lucy Wanjiku, a resident of Gitiri village in the same region at another degraded site near Gitiri dispensary.

Like other villagers , the prospects of rehabilitation of landslide site would revive their water source as well as prevent future landslides that threatens a local dispensary constructed under the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

“ We need to stabilize this land before all our efforts are wasted by landslides. With little development areas left out during land subdivision in the 1950s, the local community has had to raise funds to buy land for the construction of the dispensary and school now threatened by the malignant landslide. Action is needed now to save the land”, said John Nyagia, an official of Thika Water Resources Users Association.

With the immediate and urgent nature of the problem, different ways have been sought to stem the tide of landslide destruction.

“ Our approach is landslide rehabilitation entails two issues- stabilization and healing. Stabilization involved stopping further loss the land mass of the affected area and healing involved a permanent solution to curb any chance of sliding in future”, observed Kennedy Mwashako, project officer with SACDEP in charge of landslide rehabilitation.

According to Mwashako, an agriculturalist, farmers in the degraded areas plant Vetiver grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides) for stabilizing the area.

Research has shown that vetiver grass barriers accumulates soil on their up- slope side which helping to restore degraded soil. It has been recommended as live barriers on steep slopes typical of those cultivated by small-holder farmers

Later indigenous trees such as Meru Oak( Vitex keniensis )and Elgon teak(Oleo capensis) are planted. Giant bamboo are also being used.

According to SACDEP officials, the planting of indigenous trees in the region has been boosted by the Kenya Tea Development Agency's directive to local farmers to avoid growing of Eucalyptus in the farms.

Even though indigenous trees take longer to mature compared to exotic trees like Eucalyptus, their products- timber and fuel wood are more profitable.

“ Increasingly, the giant bamboo (Bambusa oldhamii) are also being planted on landslide sites. With their fast growth and extensive fibrous roots, the bamboo has become a vital tree in rehabilitating degraded areas”, notes Mwashako.

Using funding from Global Environmental Facility (GEF) Small Grants Programme, SACDEP has been able to mobilize 22 affected farmers aiming at rehabilitating the degraded sites.

“ Farmers raise the seedlings and the project buys them. They are then planted in the landslide sites by the affected farmers or community groups”, says Ms Wachira.

And some farmers are earning huge returns in raising seedlings.

“ At Ksh 500 ($ 5.60) per a giant Bamboo seedlings, one can make some good returns even though it is demanding raising them. Survival rate are just around 30 per cent but returns are good”, asserted Paul Kuria, a retired banker and one of the farmers raising seedlings for the landslide rehabilitation.

The neeed to prevent future landslide incidences in the East Africa remains a matter of concern to regional goverments.

A recent report from Bulambuli in Eastern Uganda, close to Mt Elgon shows that food supplies are running low after farms were destroyed by landslides. Sanitation and school attendance have been affected as famine makes many residents leave the area -seeking better fortunes elsewhere.

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