Rough and dilapidated roads and pathways are a common sight in sand mining villages including Kobala, Rakwaro and Kobuya in Homa Bay county, and in many parts of Migori County in Kenya.
The roads are also dusty, and every so often apart from the boda bodas (motorcycles), it is not uncommon to see sand-ferrying trucks crisscrossing these roads while others remain parked idly by the roadside.
Huge gullies remain abandoned in these villages with little or no form of rehabilitation ongoing. Some of them including the smaller pits have become breeding grounds for malaria-causing mosquitoes as rainwater collects in them.
For Lorna and her husband Julius Ambaa from Kobuya village, some 200 metres from Kobala village, farming was no longer a profitable venture, and sand harvesting became the available option.
The couple which has four kids with the eldest being 17 years used to use their portion of land about three acres for growing cassavas and a small part for bananas.
According to Mrs. Ambaa, crop productivity has been decreasing every year, a factor she claims might be due to the changing weather with rains failing to come as expected.
She notes that from harvesting eight to ten bags of cassava, the number reduced to about four bags. This is after waiting for seven months for the crop to mature.
“Sand harvesting is more profitable compared to when we used to farm bananas and cassava,” Mrs. Ambaa says, adding that from the sale of her cassava, she would earn shs. 2000- 3,200 (about USD 15 -24) per bag. But with sand harvesting, the couple is receiving shs. 7,000 to shs. 10,000 (about USD 54-77) per day.
Like Ambaa and Achola, a number of residents in these villages have given their farms either fully or partially to sand harvesting, leaving only a small portion for cultivation.
In Ambaa’s case, they remain with only about two acres where they grow crops like maize, beans, cassava and sorghum for consumption and the surplus for sale.
Damianus Osano, Kobuya area chief notes that in his area farmers neighboring each other are combining their parcels of land to reap maximum benefit from sand mining.
“Food security has gone down because people are harvesting sand from their parcels where they were growing crops,” Osano says, adding that even the prices residents are getting for the sand are not enough to purchase other parcels of land for cultivation.
From a lorry carrying seven tonnes of sand, he says, the farmer can earn shs.1000 to 1500 ( about USD 8 to 11) or less, depending on their bargaining power.
Despite this exploitation, the sand is often transported to neighboring counties of Kisii, Migori and Kericho with a lorry going for as much as shs. 15,000 to 20,000 (about US$ 121- 161) and as little as shs. 6,000 (about US$ 48).
According to the area Chief of Wang Chieng’ Location, Cosmas Odipo where Rakwaro and Kobala villages are situated, food security is an issue of concern due to these sand mining activities.
He notes that in his area, there are at least 30 sand mining sites with sizes ranging from half an acre to ten acres depending on the portion of land owned by one individual.
Odipo observes that the area used to be very productive and most people would grow crops such as maize, cassava, sorghum, and groundnuts among other crops. But over the years, productivity has gone down due to sand harvesting activities which people see as a quick way to get money.
He says that even the staple food in the area such as sorghum and cassava which used to come in handy during periods of drought can no longer be found in the area and as a result, community members are usually forced to purchase maize from neighbouring villages, where people have grown the crop.
Even fishing which is one of the main economic activities has been dwindling due to climate change and illegal fishing gear, Odipo adds, noting that this has forced some of the fishermen to also turn to sand harvesting to supplement their income.
“Most of the farms have been harvested to the extent they have become very unproductive such that even if one plants anything on them the crops don’t grow,” he says.
John Otieno Odede, 40, is a resident of Kobala village with two wives and nine children. He inherited land from his father which used to be a sand harvesting site.
The land is situated a few meters from the river Sondu’s bank. A few months ago in 2024, heavy rains resulted in flooding of the water body. The water crossed over and following the gullies left from the sand harvesting activities, destroyed two of his houses. The one remaining is already exhibiting signs of collapsing with fault lines all over its walls.
He has been forced to build a temporary shelter made of iron sheets for his family. The incident also forced him to change occupations, from farming to fishing in order to make ends meet as he is the only breadwinner in his family.
“We don’t have anywhere to farm. The soil has become waterlogged and only water comes out of it. Crops don’t grow,” Odede says. “This has resulted in food insecurity as we cannot have food because there is no place to farm.”
In Rakwaro village, about 200m from Kobala, Mary Atieno, probably in her fifties, lost her nephew and his friend. The two teenage boys in primary school used to work as sand harvesters. The widow’s immediate neighbor had converted his land into a sand harvesting site and the boys saw this as an opportunity to make quick money to support the family.
Though the law prohibits the employment of minors (children below 18 years), school-going children especially boys flock to sand mining sites during the evening hours to do casual labour. They take part in scooping sand or loading trucks for as much as shs. 100 -200 (about a dollar or two) depending on the work done.
Our response as DHF is to empower the local communities to reclaim the already dilapidated acres of land that are now wasted and of no benefit to them. Deforestation and sand mining have led to displacement of people causing loss of homes and livelihood, which in turn lead to stress, anxiety and a sense of loss and hopelessness. Climate change affects agriculture negatively leading to financial insecurity and stress. In these areas, there is scarcity of essential resources that lead to malnutrition and dehydration, which are closely linked to poor mental health outcomes. Improving access to quality air and greening the rural sand mines can help mitigate these impacts and benefit overall public health. This would help to improve mood, self esteem and even speed up recovery of mental illnesses. This project also offers psychosocial support and debriefing to help reach out to those affected by climate change. Human activities causing deforestation, together with agriculture and other land use changes accounts for roughly 25% of global greenhouse emissions. This project intends to reverse this trend by involving the affected communities in planting trees, either individually or as part of a collective. This will alleviate issues to do with social withdrawal challenges..
The trees that are planted here revitalizes the aesthetic nature that used to exist in these places before and attract more people into being productive by engaging in rehabilitation of sand mines. It encourages people to grow more trees for improving the environment and also for money as nearly all vegetation that used to exist naturally in these areas have been cut down to make charcoal. This helps to restore ecosystems and compensate for remaining losses by advancing knowledge, mainstreaming the mitigation hierarchy, and promoting nature-based solutions in partnership with national and county government environment and forestry departments. Schools are used as sites for tree nurseries and this ensures the greening of schools, and engages school children in protecting and caring for their environment too.
