Rains are here! Farmers get busy

Rains

Heavy downpour along Nyeri-Nanyuki highway at Chaka in Nyeri county on March 2, 2023. The weatherman has predicted that the country will receive below-average rainfall. 

Photo credit: Joseph Kanyi I Nation Media Group

The rains have started pounding the Mt Kenya and Nyanza regions, giving hope to locals whose crops had withered and livestock died in the ravaging drought.

Nyeri, Tharaka-Nithi and other counties at the foot of Mt Kenya, have recorded showers in the past three days. Locals say if the situation continues, it will give life to rivers and streams that had dried up.

“We are happy the rains are back. We can now ready our lands for planting,” Mr James Kariuki , a farmer, said in Nyeri town.

Besides causing a drop in the production of tea leaves by 80 percent, the dry spell had also resulted in high food prices with the price of cabbage shooting from Sh20 at Sh70 a piece.

The government had further banned irrigation along rivers in Embu and Kirinyaga counties through water regulatory agencies after the rivers went dry.

The rains which started on Wednesday also came as a boost to efforts to contain a fire that was ravaging the Aberdares Forest in Mt Kenya National Park.

According to the Kenya Meteorological Department, preliminary predictions indicate that the expected March, April and May 2023 rainfall is likely to be depressed and characterised by a late onset and poor distribution in time and space.

Rains

Traffic builds up at Chaka in Nyeri County, on the Nyeri-Nanyuki highway when it rained on March 2, 2023, after months of a dry spell. The weatherman has predicted that the country will receive below-average rainfall. 

Photo credit: Joseph Kanyi I Nation Media Group

The rains have also been experienced in Kisumu and Kakamega, Homa Bay, Nyamira, Kisii and Migori, giving farmers a green light to ready their farms for planting. Light showers were reported in Siaya County.

A section of rice farmers in the West Kano irrigation scheme, who contemplated abandoning rice farming due to lack of water for irrigation owing to the reduced volumes in River Nyando, have embarked on land preparation following the heavy downpour.

“Our rice farms have remained bare since November last year due to lack of enough water to irrigate our crops,” says Mr Tom Osagu, who owns a one-acre piece of land.

Mr Osagui is among tens of farmers in Kabonyo Kanyagwal Ward who have now embarked on fresh preparations of the seedlings as they wait for the river volume to increase.

The initial seedlings they had prepared in November ahead of the December planting season withered away due to failed rains.

According to Mr Osagu, the heavy rains experienced twice in the week is not enough assurance for one to plant as rice requires a constant supply of water.

In Kakamega, the rains that first fell on Sunday evening were accompanied by strong winds and hail stones.

Nyeri rains

Heavy rains in Nyeri town on March 1, 2023. Many parts of the county experienced the rains which came as a relief for many farmers who have prepared their farms for planting.

Photo credit: Joseph Kanyi | Nation Media Group

  “Quite a number of farmers have already planted maize, we had prepared our farms ready and were only waiting for the rains,” said Mr George Odhiambo, a resident of Homa Bay County.

 In Kano, Nyando Sub-county of Kisumu, there are already fears of floods following the rains given that the area normally experiences extreme weather patterns.

Relief food

To survive the prolonged drought, hunger-stricken residents of Ombaka village in Kano, relied on relief food issued by government officials to survive.

Mr Tom Otieno, a resident of Ogenya has nothing to offer hungry children but prepare black tea for them before they go back for their afternoon classes at the nearby Ombaka primary school.

Heavy rains in Nyeri town

Heavy rains in Nyeri town on March 1, 2023. Kenya is staring at a failed crop this season as the weatherman forecasts below-average rains for the March-April-May period, which will pile more inflationary pressure on millions of households that are already grappling with a high cost of living.

Photo credit: Joseph Kanyi | Nation Media Group

“Most of the families here depend on black tea or porridge which is often not to get our stomachs full but to quell the hunger pangs,” said Mr Otieno, a 58-year-old widower.

And during heavy rains, families turn schools and churches into safe havens to shelter from the raging floods, only returning home to dilapidated structures after the rains to try and rebuild their lives.