- Lack of seed is keeping residents from growing their own food and they have turned to the government and local NGOs for help amid fears of widespread hunger if nothing is done to help them.
- Food security remains a challenge to many families that depend on subsistence farming and pastoralism for their livelihood.
Image: ABDIKADIR CHARI
Fears are rife among farmers in Marsabit county that the harvest for this season could be poor if the government does not provide free seeds to small-scale farmers.
Lack of seed is keeping residents from growing their own food and they have turned to the government and local NGOs for help amid fears of widespread hunger if nothing is done to help them.
Food security remains a challenge to many families that depend on subsistence farming and pastoralism for their livelihood.
Speaking to the press, Galgallo Duba, a farmer in Uran, said the long dry spell has left farmers without seeds, despite the rainy season that has set in.
"Most of the farmers used their little seeds last season, but they did not harvest anything," said Galgallo
He was worried that poor farmers would not have the means to acquire seed at market prices because many of them had very dismal harvests in the previous season.
"The way the government is distributing relief food to drought-affected people is what they should do on seeds," he said
Galgallo said any seed aid would help them deal with the looming hunger in the areas after the region failed to receive enough rain in the last six seasons.
He added that the farmers in the county are struggling to get busy for the season of cultivation owing to the challenges that affected the entire population.
He called on the government and the partners to help rescue the situation of farmers by providing them with seeds.
Image: ABDIKADIR CHARI
"Putting the seed down will help curb this hunger in the county and we ask the government and partners to help us with seed," he said
According to Diba Abgudo, the farmers in the region are confused about the next plan as they have nothing to buy seeds for themselves.
"Now everything has dried off. If there is any support from the government and well-wishers, then it is good," said Diba.
He stressed out that the only way to control hunger in the county is to cultivate the farm so that the newly harvested food can rescue the region.
"The only thing to stop hunger is if the government and non-state actors provide us with seeds in order to focus on agriculture to produce food for ourselves," he said
He said the process of acquiring government-subsidized fertilizers is extremely tedious as they need to register with chiefs by giving details of their farm's acreage and the crop they want to plant to get clearance.
He said they must be members of cooperative societies or groups.
Diba urged the government to construct dams in the area to curb perennial food shortages whenever drought occurs.
He called on the government to set up water pans and drill boreholes as short-term measures adding that the construction of mega dam was the only permanent solution to food scarcity in the county.
While presiding over food distribution in Uran and Lataka on Friday, Governor's political adviser Wako Wario urged the National Government and humanitarian agencies to supply residents with relief food and increase school feeding programs.
This he said will counter the prevailing drought which has placed many school-going children at risk of dropping out due to hunger.
He said that supplying schools with relief food would ensure that all learners turn up for studies because even if they lack food in their homes, they would be guaranteed a meal in school.
Image: ABDIKADIR CHARI
"The hunger crisis has also led to lack of concentration and malnutrition which could have a long-lasting impact on the education sector," said Wako
He explained that the county government has been partnering with the national government and non-state actors to carry out a series of intervention programmes targeted towards providing humanitarian support to the vulnerable population suffering the devastating effects of drought.
Wako said the ravaging drought has had a huge impact on the locals but the available relief food will cushion them for a period of time.
Al-Khair foundation MEAL officer Precious Wangeci expressed the need for a partnership between the county government and humanitarian agencies so as to cushion the residents from the severe droughts.
"We as Al-Khair Foundation have partnered with the county government to help the residents during these harsh weather conditions. We see it as a corporate social responsibility. Our aim is to ensure the food reaches the needy residents," she said
She said a total of 1,200 households benefitted with each getting 25 KGS of fortified blended food from their second round of distribution in Sololo sub-county.
Fatuma Godana, a beneficiary commended the county government and Al-Khair foundation for drought mitigation measures against hunger, noting that relief food will support them despite being scarce.
Halima Abdi, a resident of Uran thanked the governor and Al-Khair foundation for remembering them during hard times of drought when many families in the region have been adversely affected by drought.
"I want to thank the governor and Al-Khair foundation for providing us with food which will boost us for the next two weeks," she said
Abdub Boru is a pastoralist from Lataka who rely on his livestock to get a day-to-day livelihood.
The loss of the livestock due to drought pushed him to the brink of poverty since he could no longer provide for his family.
With no other means of earning his living, he had no choice but to start burning charcoal.
With the price of one sack of charcoal worth Sh700, he still could not afford enough food and had to forego some meals to make it a day.
" I have to feed eight people from the sale of charcoal. We could only afford to buy small items. With the food from the county government and Al-Khair foundation, we will no longer skip meals," he said