ABSTRACT
• Agriculture, livestock, bee-keeping and fisheries remain rudimentary in the Omo-Turkana Basin. With some exceptions, people continue to rely on traditional methods and tools and use few inputs. As a result, food and nutrition insecurity poses a threat to rural livelihoods.
• Insecurity due to armed conflicts and cattle-rustling as well as natural disasters such as droughts and floods further impoverish communities around Lake Turkana, leading to loss of assets, livelihoods and even life, further escalating hunger and dependency on food aid.
• Both Ethiopia’s and Kenya’s policies, laws and strategies are supportive of agriculture and food security initiatives, as are the respective national and regional/county government plans. However, implementation is often disjointed and under-resourced.
• There are very good opportunities to encourage improved production, livelihoods and food security through crop diversification to enhance resilience. This includes cultivating more fruits and vegetables under irrigation for local markets (in Kenya), encouraging aquaculture to enhance fish production, upgrading livestock to be more productive and promoting intra-basin trade given the complementarities between the upper and lower portions of the Omo-Turkana Basin.
• There is no active transboundary body governing the Omo-Turkana Basin to bring together actors from across both countries, including local communities. Thus, agriculture, water management and food security issues lack transboundary coordination that would optimize development of the basin.
