Drought in Kenya is biting hard as the dry season is cruising in its 4th months in many parts of the country.
The farmers are yet to plant their crops as they wait for the rains. This is worsening the situation because last year farmers suffered losses as a result of a similar drought.
The dry season began when maize had just started flowering and this was was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Farmers in Nakuru who used to harvest 10 bags of maize ended up harvesting just one bag. This was a big loss for the farmers and a disaster for the maize consumers who are the majority in Kenya.
Now the government of Kenya is scouting for countries which can supply maize to plug the gap between demand and supply.
Zambia is said to have a large amount of excess white maize that is available for export. However, the problem is that the country is landlocked which means transporting the white maize to Kenya is an headache.
South Africa produces which maize (both GMO and non-GMO) but the state also need the maize for their own consumption hence they are now out of the equation.
Mexico has been our supplier of white maize but now they are not. This is according to one prominent public policy and economic analyst. Clearly, the world has a shortage of white maize which is consumed in Kenya.
Kenya has one viable option, to import yellow maize from Ukraine and use it for animal consumption. That way, Kenya will set aside the white maize for human consumption.
If this drought continues beyond March, many people will die of hunger and thirst. Speaking of which residents of urban and peri-urban areas are already feeling the shortage.
There is water shortage every where and water rationing is the norm as I write this article. The water dams are drying. In the homesteads, most water wells have dried up. Boreholes are now the main source of water for many households.
The blue gums are also partially to blame for the drying up of streams across the country. Rivers which used to overflow with water and now seasonal streams. Wetlands are also drying up because of human activities. Swamps which we used to dance on because on the amount of water in them have dried up courtesy of the blue gums which suck water like dragons and let it evaporate into the atmosphere.
It is a high time we implement a policy that requires the complete elimination of blue gums and replace them with other tree species which are more friendly to the environment.
National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) has been calling upon Kenyans to stop planting blue gums along rivers. A mature blue gum is estimated to consume 68 liters of water in a single day.
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