Permagardens take root after three dry years in coastal Kenya’s Mbuguni region
In Kwale County, a training programme is turning drought-devastated families into food producers — one garden at a time
By Afia Agyapomaa Ofosu
Three and a half years: that is how long the sky over Mbuguni stayed stubbornly empty.
In this remote village in Matuga, Kwale County, no rain fell. Crops failed in the fields, food stores ran dry and families exhausted their seeds. Each season, finding food and water grew harder than the last.
Women walked long distances searching for water and wild fruits. Some men left in search of work elsewhere. Children bore the consequences too. Some dropped out of school, while others — some as young as ten — turned to fishing in the ocean using mosquito nets.
Even in drought, permagardens thrive in Mbuguni Photo Credit: The Permagardens Foundation
Hunger took a visible toll on children’s health. Community members recalled malnourished and stunted children spending much of the day sleeping, too weak to move. Others collapsed by the roadside on their way to school.
The drought had also destroyed the seed stock families depended on for the next planting season. The cycle of loss seemed unbreakable.
Then, in August 2024, The Permagardens Foundation began training families in Mbuguni to establish permagardens.
Isaac Atsiaya, a trainer with The Permagardens Foundation and lead at United for Poor Communities, said the training was the first step toward helping families grow vegetables again. The gardens rely on locally available resources and prioritise efficient water use — an approach suited to a community that has endured prolonged drought.
For the women who established the gardens, each harvest meant food on the table. Surplus produce opened a second door: income.
“Vegetable surplus was sold to cover school fees, medical expenses and other small family needs,” Atsiaya said.
By November 2024, the community had recorded a rise in school attendance. “No more cases of schoolchildren collapsing along the road were recorded,” Atsiaya said.
Mwanajuma Bakari, a widow raising nine children, said vegetables from her permagarden were helping her feed her family and meet school costs.
“I am grateful my family has plenty of vegetables, and I am selling the surplus to pay school fees,” she said. “Before the permagarden, we used to sleep with empty stomachs.”
Binti Nasoro, a single mother of eight, is using part of her harvest to keep her children in school.
“My children had dropped out of school, and I am glad half of my permagarden harvest now pays their fees,” she said.
Mwanamisi Masudi, a mother of eight, said the drought had unravelled her household after her husband left during the worst of the food shortages.
“Drought left us with nothing. My husband went away during the tough times,” she said. “I am happy now we can grow our own food. We don’t sleep hungry anymore.”
For Niyawa Athumani, a mother of ten, the change is visible in her children.
“My children have enough vegetables. They have gained weight, and those who had dropped out of school have returned,” she said. “We have a little money from the surplus we sell.”
A family harvests okra from their permagarden Photo Credit: The Permagardens Foundation
The experiences of these women illustrate how the gardens are serving a dual purpose: household food security and a modest but meaningful source of income. Women manage the gardens and determine how to use what they produce — a model that places decision-making where the need is greatest.
Climate change may yet bring more drought or flooding to Mbuguni. But these women are no longer waiting. They have turned empty plots into sources of food, income and dignity.
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