Farmers in Garissa County who depend on irrigation following the recent drought experienced in the region are now faced with another challenge.
The farmers are at risk of losing their farms through flooding if Tana River bursts its banks after heavy rains upstream.
Mining PS Dr Ibrahim Mohamed said flooding will be a major setback to the farmers who recently started farming following the prolonged drought experienced in the country that forced them to abandon herding, after losing almost all their livestock to drought.
“We want to adopt mitigation measures that will lessen losses brought about by floods. We will liaise with the Irrigation and Environment ministries on how best to address these concerns so that farmers don’t suffer huge losses during floods,” said Mohamed.
“They want early warning systems enhanced so that floodwaters can be stored in dams and released at the appropriate time, and used during dry spells,” he added.
Speaking to journalists in Garissa town after presiding over a consultative forum for the Third Medium Term Plan, the PS urged the government to allocate more funds to livestock development, value addition for their products and flood control along the River Tana.
Mohamed, who said the pastoralists like a disease-free zone added that construction of modern abattoirs will help stop wastage of meat, create jobs and grow the economy.
“Promoting value additional in a disease-free zone is their ultimate aim. Herders would like to see their meat, milk, hides and skin among other products being processed locally. There is a lot of milk and meat that go to waste,” he said.