• Emily Karanta said her shop was almost empty because, besides the hardship of getting produce and transporting them from the source.
• She said the Russia-Ukraine war dealt a major blow to her business because besides causing an increase in fuel prices which has a ripple effect on everything else.
Image: LOISE MACHARIA
Emily Karanta was on the verge of closing her cereals business at Isiolo market after going through the worst streak of shocks which included the worst and longest drought in forty years.
The winding chain of misfortunes in the arid areas which already has existing challenges started with the invasion of desert locust, followed by a four-year-long drought which was coupled with the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war which has caused a global economic crisis, and now the ongoing El Nino.
Emily says her shop was almost empty because, besides the hardship of getting produce and transporting them from the source, the number of customers was adversely reduced due to the hard economic times that the country was going through.
“People’s purchasing power has reduced, people are no longer having three meals a day, they are eating for survival. A family that was buying a kilogram of lentils is now using half a kilogram for a meal, not because they need less but because the buying muscle has been negatively affected,” she said.
Emily said she started her business at the Isiolo main market in 1983 after dropping out of school and never has she experienced what her trade has gone through in the past six years that brought her to rock bottom.
“I could not continue my education and I decided to start trading at the market because it did not require any form of training. The business was doing well previously as it has always paid my bills and helped me educate my children until recently when it was affected by the multiple shocks,” she revealed..
She said the Russia-Ukraine war dealt a major blow to her business because besides causing an increase in fuel prices which has a ripple effect on everything else, she was also importing some food products from that region among them rice and some types of grains.
“The hike in fuel prices had greatly affected trade, especially the small-scale traders because the cost of transporting commodities has almost tripled,” she said.
An elated Emily said she is back into the business and can afford a smile once again after lady luck in the form of a grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) knocked on her door.
“I learned about the grant USAID Kenya Livestock Market Systems Activity (LMS) staff who visited our stalls at the market, educated us, gathered information about the predicament of different traders, and collected our personal data for processing,” she said.
She said the money was disbursed through a very simple process as it did not take long before she received Sh50,000 grant through mobile money.
She said the cash helped her restock her business and spring back to a profitable business.
According to Emily, she even managed to buy grains that she had not stocked earlier such as Kenyan black beans, lentils and green grams.
“Although I have not managed to directly employ people, I know that I have indirectly created employment through the transporters and porters (bebas) who move my stock from one point to the other,” she said.
Isiolo County Trade, Industrialization and Investment Chief Officer Lucy Kaburu said the county was working in good collaboration with USAID Kenya by co-creating, co-planning, co-financing, co-implementing, and jointly monitoring outcomes of targeted projects.
She said the collaboration has brought them together with several other partners to work for the common good of the communities in the county.
She said one of the key areas where the county was working jointly with USAID-LMS was trade in food and market systems which is a new front being that Isiolo’s main economy was in livestock.
Image: LOISE MACHARIA
Lucy says they introduced fresh produce, cereals and fruits in the existing markets and established fresh produce committees.
“The introduction of fresh produce, cereals and fruits markets to run with livestock markets has brought a unique way of working because when locals sell their livestock, they can buy other food products,” she said.
Emily noted that the move is beneficial because the region has been through many shocks, adding that through the collaboration, the county and USAID through LMS were taking the initiative to help those who had survived.
She adds that USAID has helped 978 traders (736 women; and 242 men) in Isiolo who were completely out of business through training and financial grants.
USAID LMS Chief of Party Joe Sanders said the programme is supporting over 561,000 people in Garissa, Isiolo, Marsabit, Samburu, Turkana and Wajir counties to withstand adversities and reduce poverty, hunger and malnutrition.
Out of a target of 5,755 small-scale food and livestock traders, he added that 4,195 (2,999 women and 1,196 men) had been supported through cash transfers to boost food availability and trade.
“The cash transfers provided stability to traders. Even with the current heavy rains, we have equipped them to continue running their businesses,” Sanders said.
Through the programme, food transporters have been supported through cash transfers in a bid to enable them to reach markets in remote areas amid the heavy rains.