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Rains in Kenya are grossly affecting the standing crops. The rains that started in mid-March have posed immediate dangers and left others to come. The killer floods have taken a toll on human lives, snatching the lives of over 300 people.
Rains in Kenya are grossly affecting the standing crops. The rains that started in mid-March have posed immediate dangers and left others to come. The killer floods have taken a toll on human lives, snatching the lives of over 300 people.
Now a food security crisis lies ahead, along with even higher prices in a country whose president had sought to make agriculture an even greater engine of the economy. The Kenyan government says the flooding has destroyed crops on more than 168,000 acres (67,987 hectares) of land. This represents 0.24 percent of Kenya’s agricultural land mass.
The deluge has exposed Kenya’s ill-preparedness for disasters, emphasizing the need for sustainable land management and improved forecasting. Farmers now dig trenches to protect what’s left of the farm on a plain in the farthest outskirts of the capital, Nairobi, in Machakos County.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/heavy-floods-and-rains-choke-nairobi/
https://trendsnafrica.com/kenya-continues-to-face-flood-threats/
Experts say that to alleviate the negative impacts of soil erosion and flooding, it’s crucial to practice sustainable land management. At Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology, John Gathenya, a hydrologist and Professor of Agricultural Engineering, recommends practices such as diversifying crops and utilizing the soil’s natural water retention capacity. He also advocated afforestation and the use of soil wisely as this requires much less of an investment than large infrastructure projects such as dams.
