Residents of Buuri East in Meru County have appealed to the national and county governments to put in place contingency measures to mitigate against a looming food shortage in the semi-arid area.
Speaking to KNA at Ntumburi area, farmers said they are counting losses after their crops withered due to the failure of the October-December short rains and expressed fears of shortages.
A farmer, Julius Mugambi said he had spent a lot of money on expensive farm inputs as he looked forward to a bumper harvest of wheat and beans from his over ten-acre farm and added he lost hope after the area received very little rain.
Mugambi said weather experts had assured farmers that there would be enough rain to take crops to maturity for harvest but farmers were expecting almost nothing from their hard work.
Another resident noted that the prevailing situation was likely to affect education negatively saying most parents depend on farm produce to sell and raise school fees adding that the condition of livestock was equally poor due to lack of enough pasture.
Mugambi appealed to the national and county governments to consider providing relief food to the most vulnerable areas of Buuri sub-county especially areas bordering Isiolo county which more often than not experience drought due to inadequate rainfall.
The farmer said the area had a lot of potential in farming if only the national and county government can think of putting up dams in the area to provide reliable sources of water for domestic and agricultural use.
“Buuri can be converted into a reliable source of food for the larger Meru County if only farmers have enough water to engage in horticultural and traditional food crop farming,” the farmer said.
By Makaa Margaret
