Bondo District, Kenya

Bondo District, Kenya is a district bordering Lake Victoria in Kenya's Nyanza Province. The majority ethnic group there are the Luo. Bondo District was only recently created - before it was included in nearby Siaya District. As of 2007, it was the second poorest district in Kenya. The district's main livelihoods are agriculture and fishing. Figures from 2001-2004 show that approximately 47.2% of the population is poor and 41.1% of households live below the poverty line. As of 2007, the HIV/AIDS rate in Bondo was 23.6%, and 34% of the population had malaria.

Geographic Profile

 * "Bondo district lies between 0° 26° to 0° 90° and from longitude 33° 58° E and 34° 35° W. The district was curved out of Siaya in May 1998. It borders Siaya district to the North, Kisumu district to the East and Homa Bay and Suba across the Winam Gulf to the South East and South. To the West is Uganda. The district covers a total of 1,972km2 out of which 972km2 is land mass while the rest 1,000km2 is water surface.


 * "Topographically, the district is divided into scattered highlands such as Got Ramogi and Usenge in Usigu division, Got Abiero and Sirafuongo in Nyang’oma division, lowlands of Yala Swamp and Uyoma Plains. These result into differences in relief, soils and land use. These features give rise to altitudes ranging between 1140m and 1400m above the sea level. The oldest exposed volcanic rocks such as basalt, elite and ryolite cover the district geologically. Others include intrusives of post Nyanzanian/preKavirondian age. In Uyoma Peninsula are found tertiary volcanoes consisting of the nephline lava agglomerates.


 * "Administratively, the district is divided into five divisions namely Maranda, Nyang’oma. Rarieda, Madiany and Usigu, each headed by a district officer. The district has a total of nineteen locations and forty-nine sub-locations. Nyang’oma has two locations and seven sub-locations, while Maranda, Madiany and Rarieda have four locations each. However, there are thirteen sub-locations in Madiany, ten in Maranda respectively. Usigu leads with five locations but only ten sub-locations."


 * "The district has a modified equatorial climate with strong influence from local relief and the expansive lake, which influence rainfall amounts and distribution. Predominantly, the district has warm, dry and humid climate with mean annual rainfall ranging between 800-1600 mm on bi-modal rainfall pattern of long rains occurring between March and May and short rains occurring between October and November.


 * "Temperatures too vary with mean of 22.5ºC and evaporation varies between 2000 mm and 2200 mm annually."


 * "The rainfall which amounts to 800 – 1600 mm per annum is high in intensity and falls within a short period (≈ 3 months)."

Water, Fuel, and Electricity
About 35 percent of the population have access to potable, clean water. The rest obtain water from rivers, dams, or the lake. On average, it takes about one hour to get water, which mostly impacts female children, who are sent to fetch water. This gets worse during droughts as some water sources dry up.

Over half of the population has access to either toilets or pit latrines (mostly pit latrines).

Most people in Bondo cook over firewood, with 8% using charcoal and 1% using paraffin.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Grow Strong
 * Global Land Grab
 * Yala Swamp
 * Dominion Farms Limited
 * Luo
 * Dak Achana II

External resources

 * Rosalynn Gichimo, Nelson Mango, Njeri Muhia, and Brent Swallow, "Proceedings of the Workshop on Voices of Poor Livestock Keepers in Bondo District," World Agroforestry Centre, January 22, 2003.