A section of residents in Kiambu County are staring hunger in the face following a total crop failure in most parts of the region.
According to the county’s Agriculture Chief Executive Member Monicah Waiganjo, residents of Munyu, Muguga, Ngoliba, Gatuanya, Kalimoni and Ndeiya are the most affected.
The situation has been aggravated by depressed rainfall. In the last planting season, farmers incurred great losses after their crops dried up due to lack of rains.
Now farmers have been advised to plant early every season to avoid crop failure in case the rains are depressed.
This season, the county government supplied them with fertiliser and seeds but later banned them from using piped water for irrigation.
Waiganjo, who spoke in Ngoliba on Tuesday, called on the county government to move to with speed and provide relief food to be distributed to the affected families.
She said that they are targeting feeding the families even as schools reopen for third term so that students don’t miss classes due to hunger.
The county government, added Waiganjo, is initiating irrigation programmes as well as formulating policies on conservation to address the situation and boost food security.