Farmers in Sankuri, Garissa County who have been depending on irrigation have suffered huge losses after their crops were destroyed by heavy rains.
The farmers have been left counting losses running into millions of shillings as the rains pound the area.
Irrigation farmers in Sankuri and Hadley were affected by the heavy rains which destroyed their crops and they could not access their farms which are submerged in water.
Abdullahi Aden, a farmer in one of the group farms in Hadley said the flooding is a major setback to the farmers, who recently started farming following the prolonged drought experienced in the country.
Aden said they were forced to abandon being herders after losing almost all their livestock to drought, and with irrigation farming they were hoping they would be able to provide food to their families.
“We were caught unawares by the heavy rains that started on Saturday evening. We were shocked to find our farms submerged in flood waters this morning. We could not even salvage our farming tools,” he said as quoted by the Star.
Some of the crops that were almost ready for harvesting include tomatoes, pawpaw and assorted vegetables.
The rains that started pounding several parts of Garissa, neighbouring Tana River and Kitui counties has seen River Tana which the farmers were using for irrigation burst its banks leading to heavy flooding.