The Turkana Doum Palm basketry products are made by Turkana Women groups. The raw materials are sourced from the shores of Lake Turkana and in the dry riverbeds of this arid zone of Kenya's Northern side. The Turkana region is actively a desert zone. Therefore the inhabitants live under severe conditions of aridity.

The Turkana people are traditionally a pastoralist community and therefore live a nomadic life who due to the dictates of nature move from place to place with their herds of goats, sheep, cow and camels. The lifestyle is very hard in this dry wasteland. Due to the prevalent poverty in the area, the weaving of Doum Palm products has come to be treated as an alternative source of their livelihood. The Turkana basketry is a very hardy house utility product. The products are also blended with beautiful colour patterns which have made them become popular both locally and overseas.

As a home based economic activity, it is common to see women making baskets right at their own "Manyatta' homesteads. The community sells their products either in autonomously formal groups or through the Turkana cooperative. Though this has been a good move in cutting down exploitation by the middleman/woman, at times the artisans option to sell their products in the open air market at a willing seller - buyer basis which at times lead to a poor return. However, not many buyers are able to travel to this actively desert areas due to security reasons and of course the natural hardship associated with such arid places where people live in harsh climatic conditions which is coupled with long dry spells.

Due to the harsh climatic condition in the Lodwar District where the Turkan Doum palm leave are sourced, the plant is not thriving as it should along the shores of Lake Turkana. In the recent years, the waters of the Lake Turkana coastline have been retreating significantly leaving a barren and desert area. Therefore vital as the Doum plant must be to the artisans in this region, its survival is equally a matter of concern. All the same the Doum palm does grow pretty fast even with very little rain/water.