Climate Change hurting farmers at a personal level

Nakuru

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

KNA by Veronica Bosibori

The poor rainfall distribution in Nakuru County has contributed to crop failure, and some maize stunted at the critical stage of tussling leading to total failure. 

However, the county director for Agriculture Fredrick Owino said in areas where there wasn’t rain failure farmers are assured of a good harvest of maize. He was speaking today during an interview with KNA at the county offices. 

He observed that climate change is now hurting farmers at a very personal level, since even after following all the required procedures of proper farm preparation, sourcing for the right seeds, applying adequate fertilizer, and planting at the right time, doesn’t guarantee the expected results. 

While empathizing with farmers whose maize stunted and started drying he said, the only reprieve for them was selling to dairy farmers as feeds, but those who keep animals, also can store it as feeds for the drought season. 

He noted that it was no longer a surprise when it rains in one village and the next remains totally dry, unlike in the past when rain was equally distributed in all adjacent areas. 

But, he said, unlike other counties, Nakuru has four climatic conditions, and the semiarid areas such as Solai, Waseges, and Lare wards, tend to perform worse than other areas. He added that even on the same farm some areas are likely to be fertile and produce more, while in other areas the crop turns yellow. 

However, the general projection of maize harvest is anticipated to be 33 million bags, against an annual consumption of 44 million bags, which means a shortage of 10 million bags, might have to be imported in order to offset the shortage.    

The last four years of rainfall in the country led to extreme shortages of maize and prices rose steeply, to sh.8,000 per 90kg sack. But, currently, the harvest in Narok has given Nakuru residents relief since a bag is selling at sh.6000.   

Courtesy ; K. N. A