MACHAKOS, Kenya — Dismayed, Martha Waema and her husband surveyed their farm that had been submerged for weeks of incessant rain throughout Kenya. Water levels would rise to shoulder height after just one night of heavy downpours.
The couple expected to make a return of 200,000 shillings ($1,500) from their three acres after investing 80,000 shillings ($613) in corn, peas, cabbages, tomatoes and kale. But their hopes have been uprooted and destroyed.
“I have worked in agriculture for 38 years, but I have never encountered losses of this magnitude,” said the 62-year-old mother of 10.
Your financial security and optimism have been shaken by what from Kenya The government has called it “a clear manifestation of the erratic weather patterns caused by climate change.”
The rains that began in mid-March posed immediate dangers and left others to come. They have killed almost 300 people, left dams at historically high levels and led the government to order residents to evacuate flood-prone areas, and tear down the houses of those who don’t.
Now a food security crisis looms, along with even higher prices in a country whose president had sought to make agriculture an even bigger driver of the economy.
The Kenyan government says the floods have destroyed crops on more than 168,000 acres (67,987 hectares) of land, or less than 1% of Kenya’s agricultural land.
As farmers count their losses (totals still unknown), the deluge has exposed what opposition politicians call Kenya’s poor preparedness for climate change and related disasters and the need for sustainable land management and better forecasts. weather.
Waema is now digging trenches in an effort to protect what remains of the farm on a plain outside the capital, Nairobi, in Machakos County.
Not everyone is mourning, including farmers who prepared for climate crises.
About 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Waema farm, farmer James Tobiko Tipis, 65, and his 16-acre farm escaped flooding in Olokirikirai. He said he had been proactive in the landslide-prone area due to terrace farming.
“We used to lose topsoil and everything we were planting,” he said.
Experts said more Kenyan farmers must protect their farms against soil erosion that is likely to worsen with new climate crises.
Narok County Agricultural Officer Jane Kirui emphasized the importance of terracing and other measures, such as cover crops, that will allow water to be absorbed.
In rural Kenya, experts say efforts to conserve water resources remain inadequate despite current abundant rainfall.
At the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Professor John Gathenya recommended practices such as diversifying crops and emphasizing the soil’s natural water-holding capacity.
“Soil remains the largest reservoir of water,” he said, stating that using it wisely requires a much smaller investment than large infrastructure projects such as dams. But the soil needs to be protected with practices that include limiting deforestation that has exposed parts of Kenyan land to severe runoff.
“We are opening up land in new fragile environments where we need to be even more careful about how we farm,” Gathenya said. “In our search for more and more food, we are pushing towards the most fragile areas, but not with the same intensity.” of soil conservation that we had 50 years ago.”
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