By Maina Waruru | From Thomson Reuters Foundation via AllAfrica

After inheriting land from his father 20 years ago, George Kinyua did the same as thousands of other local farmers: he grew rice using water from canals.

Back then, irrigation water was plenty in this part of central Kenya, and the only thing farmers worried about was how to get the best market prices for their produce.

Then in 2000, Kenya suffered a prolonged drought that reduced water levels in the area’s rivers. Farmers were forced to abandon rice cultivation in favour of less thirsty crops.

To survive, Kinyua took to growing tomatoes and French beans on his 4 acres (1.62 hectares), using water from a 40-foot (12.19 m) well he had sunk into his land. But in 2004, another drought struck, and Kinyua’s well dried up.

“It was so bad I had to sink a deeper well, this time 75 foot deep, and even then the water was only enough to support farming on a quarter acre of land,” said the father of two.

All over Kathigiriri village, farmers have had to carve out boreholes – some up to 100 feet deep – to access water. Every time another dry spell hits the region, farmers are forced to dig deeper to ensure a steady supply of the precious resource.

One key problem is a lack of data, experts say. According to the Kenya Water Industry Association, not one of the country’s several water regulation agencies, including the Water Resources Management Authority, has reliable data that captures the distribution, quantity and quality of available groundwater.

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