NAIROBI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- As rains get scarcer and rivers dry across Kenya, water pans are becoming common on farms in the east African nation.

The water storage technology introduced in Kenya years ago was initially restricted to arid and semi-arid areas where rain was little.

But not anymore as farmers across the east African embrace the mini-dams to store rainwater, thanks to climate change.

From Kakamega and Kisumu in western Kenya to Nyeri and Meru in Central and Kilifi and Mombasa at the Coast, water pans are becoming an integral part of farming in Kenya.

Most of the water pans in areas that initially received adequate rainfall have been constructed in the past months after farmers realized they can no longer rely on the rains.

Kenya has had erratic rains for the last two years but the worst effects of the dry spell have been felt from Sept. 2018 to date, prompting many farmers to seek coping mechanisms in water pans.

Joseph Irungu, who is based in Murang'a, central Kenya, is among small farmers using water pans to grow crops.

The farmer harvests water from the roofs of the three buildings in his compound and directs it into the water pan. He then uses the water to grow crops.

And in Machakos County, farmer Patrick Mutisya grows crops using surface runoff that he harvests the few times it rains and stores it in a water pan.

"Without my water pan, I would have stopped farming years ago because the rains are unreliable. But I am no longer worried about water anymore," says the onion farmer.

It costs at least 1 million shillings (10,000 U.S. dollars) to drill a borehole using specialized equipment, an amount that is too high for ordinary farmers.

Water pans are, therefore, an affordable option for farmers since they are dug with hoes and one can spend as little as 1,000 dollars to build them, with the bulk of the amount going on the polythene liner.

The government is currently building 120,000 water pans across the east African nation, having recognized the importance of the facilities in pushing farmers away from reliance on rains and adapting to climate change, according to the Agriculture ministry.

Beatrice Macharia of Growth Point, an agro-consultancy, noted that with water pans, farmers can easily irrigate their farms because water is available.

"This water can be pumped into a tank and then used to irrigate crops using drip irrigation system. Alternatively, it can be pumped directly into the farm," she said, adding the bigger the water pan, the longer the farmer can irrigate his crops.

A 20-square-meter water pan can irrigate crops on half-acre until the next rainy season, she noted. She observed that the water pans have turned semi-arid counties like Kajiado, Machakos and Makueni into breadbaskets.

"A lot of onions, tomatoes and leafy vegetables consumed in Nairobi come from the three counties and this is because of water pans," she said. Enditem

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