Making waters

Abstract

In the past 10 years the strategy of the Kenya Government has shifted from expansion of largescale irrigation schemes to the development of smallholder irrigation systems. Since 1992, the Government has adopted a cost-sharing policy for the implementation of irrigation projects. Farmers are expected to pay the full costs of infrastructure, as well as operation and maintenance, through a system of commercial loans. The privatisation of some irrigation services and the financial autonomy of public agencies are also being promoted. The implications of these policies are that development of irrigation is likely to be concentrated in higher potential areas, and that farmers' involvement in all phases of project development will be greatly enhanced. This, in turn, should favour technologies which are low cost and easy to operate and maintain. It is therefore expected that the private sector will play an essential role in the k: NYA provIsion of services and in the creation of technologies. In 1991 Terra Nuova, an Italian NGO, carried out a study in collaboration with the University. of Nairobi and the Ministry of Agriculture, on sprinklers manufactured by local artisans in the Mt. Kenya area. The objectives of the study were to assess the performance of these "Jua Kali"l sprinklers, the scope for improvement and the level of diffusion among smallholder farmers, with a view to identifying ways to promote wider adoption of this type of sprinkler in gravity-fed, low pressure irrigation systems. In 1994, Terra Nuova carried out an informal survey in the same area, this time focusing on the manufacture of the sprinklers. . This document is a synthesis of both surveys and attempts to elucidate, with text and illustrations, the creativity of local artisans in the circumstances in which they operate.