A food crisis looms in parts of the Mt Kenya region after crops dried up due to failed rains.
The situation has left farmers counting huge losses and residents apprehensive about imminent famine.
Speaking on the matter, Mbeere MP Nephat Muriuki asked the Kenya Kwanza government to urgently supply foodstuff and water and forget about the so-called fertilizer which Ruto’s government has been distributing to farmers, saying people cannot eat fertilizer.
“For a long period, the area has experienced rain failure and all the crops were wiped out by the scorching sun. This season, the situation is the same, and something urgent should be done to save the lives of my people,” said Mr. Muriuki, adding that the residents require 60,000 bags of maize and beans to save their lives.
Another farmer Franklin Mwiti said, “We planted maize and beans but while we harvested some beans, the maize has not matured and as you can see it is withering after rains failed. We don’t expect to harvest anything, yet if we had water we would have a bumper harvest,” said Franklin Mwiti, a farmer in Igembe North.
He said he had planted maize on his five-acre farm and expected to harvest 30 bags but he would be lucky to get five bags.
We want the government to prioritise sinking of boreholes, water pans and construction of dams so that we don’t experience this next season.”
“Being provided with relief food is unfair to other regions such as northern Kenya where they can’t grow food crops. We also feel it is demeaning for us to be given food yet we have relied on ourselves all along,” Mr Mwiti added.
On the other hand, Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo urged the government to scale up humanitarian aid to millions of starving Kenyans as the drought continues to wreak havoc in more than half of the counties.
Speaking while distributing maize flour to 4,000 families in Isiolo over the weekend, Dullo said there was a need to continuously provide food to ensure no one dies of hunger.
She chided Ruto over the nationwide tree planting drive, saying though important, priority should have been on cushioning hungry Kenyans and ensuring no citizen starves to death.
