The Kenya Red Cross Society has started a programme to assist irrigation farmers along the river Tana grow bamboo trees to stabilize river banks and restore degraded farmlands that were destroyed by floods early this year.
During the March-April rains irrigation farmers along the vast river Tana in Garissa County incurred massive financial loses after their crops mostly horticultural were destroyed by raging floods.
The farmers were forced to abandon crops that were ready for harvesting when the floods submerged the farms rendering them inaccessible.
According to Daudi Ahmed, the Kenya Red Cross Society Garissa branch coordinator the long-term programme is aimed at mitigating the effects of floods on irrigation farming that is among the sectors hardest hit by floods.
With the October – December rains expected, Garissa County will be among the regions that could be affected by floods.
Daudi said that the disaster committees have already been activated to roll out an awareness campaign to avert chances of losses in case the region is hit by floods.
The Red Cross official was speaking Wednesday at a Garissa hotel during a one-day media workshop for Garissa based journalists to discuss areas of collaboration during disasters.
“Our disaster risk reduction teams have already been dispatched to several sub-counties in Garissa to activate the ward committees who would be disseminating early warnings on the predicted La Niña to livestock farmers to avert chances of losing their livelihood,” Daudi said.
Daudi further said that their teams are on the ground advising local pastoralist communities to sell their large stock of animals and restock them during the rainy seasons when there will be plenty of water and pasture.
He said the lack of community-managed disaster risk reduction in the past largely contributed to the loss of livelihoods to the local community which has been affected by a vicious cycle of drought.
On his part the chairman of the Kenya Red Cross for North Eastern region Abdinoor Ole Hussein acknowledged the role of journalists in creating public awareness by providing real-time coverage of rescue and relief efforts.
Ole Hussein said that reporting should not only be confined to response and recovery but informing members of the public before such incidences take place.
He called on journalists to remain pro-active and inform members of the public well in advance so that they are not caught unawares.
The chairman said it’s important that journalists be equipped with first aid skills to also respond to disasters in the course of their duty if need arises.
By Jacob Songok
