Residents of Nakuru County have been advised to desist from sub-dividing high potential agricultural land for settlement as a way of enabling more sustainable farming activities for sustainable food security in the region.
Speaking to the media on Friday in her office, County Chief Executive for Lands and Urban Settlement Rachel Maina said land fragmentation is increasingly becoming a threat to arable farm land, as invasion to agricultural areas due to population explosion hence the shrinking farmland, a development she noted will lead to food insecurity in future.
‘The rate at which people are encroaching onto agricultural land for settlement poses a threat to the sector as it hinders farming. To stop this, citizens should form groups and buy land for settlement in designated areas instead,’ Maina commended.
The county’s Land chief also decried the influence of politics in the county assembly as a big blow in passing a bill that would ensure agricultural land is protected.
"Our effort to pass a proposed bill into law to protect these lands have faced great opposition from the county assembly, and this is largely down to political reasons and selfish gains. We will however keep pushing for the bill to ensure it becomes law to protect the farmlands,’ Maina added.
She said industries and motor garages established on agricultural zones pose life threatening risks to citizens as a majority dispose their effluent and waste on farmlands, causing diseases such as cancer among human beings.