Fatuma Kanyare, 51, is forced to skip meals to adapt to a new way of life following a string of disasters.
She was just getting back on her feet after a locust invasion that had stripped her farm bare when floods came and swept away her crops that were for harvest.
Hundreds were left homeless. The floods also swept downstream equipment such as water pumps that were co-owned by farmers’ groups.
“Tomatoes, watermelons, potatoes and other crops that were ready for the market were all swept downstream by the floods. At some point we couldn’t access our farms,” Kanyare said.
Kanyare, who owns Guwatu farm, said she watched helplessly as the locusts devastated her farm.
“When they attack a farm, they literally take every green element and leave empty shells,” the mother of 10 said.
The coronavirus pandemic, she said, added to her misery. Her eldest son, who supported her, lost his job as result of the economic downturn following the pandemic.
“I can no longer enjoy three meals a day because of adverse effects of various issues. Sometimes we forego lunch or even breakfast because of the hardship,” she added.
More than 5,000 farmers on either side of River Tana have been affected by the desert locusts and floods.
Some say they had to shout at the locusts to keep them from consuming their investment, adding that the government has done little to help them contain the pest.
“We appeal to the government to intervene. We have been hard hit by these pandemics at once and we are finding it extremely difficult to feed our families,” Howlwadaag farms member Ibrahim Muhumed said.
The farmers, however, maintain a positive outlook. They say their misery is but a passing cloud.
The farmers said they had not not recovered from the December floods when they were hit by fresh ones this year.
They blamed the government for not finding permanent solutions to flooding, saying spillage of dams upstream has caused them untold suffering.
Mohamud Ali Barrow, aka Shabin, who works as emergency programme officer with Arid Lands Development Focus in Tana River, said farmers need seeds and new implements as well as water pumps and cash to pay labourers.
The organisation has been giving cash to the worst hit farmers.
After a partnership with Oxfam, the organisation gave a cash disbursement of about Sh4,800 to 2,624 households each affected by floods.
About 663 farming households affected by locusts were given the same amount for two months.
“There are many people affected by the these calamities, we could only reach the few we selected as most vulnerable members of the society,” Barrow told the Star on Sunday.
Edited by R.Wamochie
