Irrigation is the only way of making the country more food secure in the coming days, an MP has said.
Nakuru Town East MP David Gikaria said that with the changing weather patterns the country is at a big risk of being unable to feed its people if alternative ways of producing food are not practiced.
Speaking on Thursday when he donated greenhouses to youth groups in his constituency in Free Area, Gikaria said that the country has relied too much on rain something he said has made the nation food insecure.
“As a country, we hardly think outside the box and we only react when something happens. We have relied too much on rain but due to the global warming even the rains are disappearing,” he said.
He said the country needs to move from rain fed agriculture which he said has become unreliable and move to irrigation based cultivation.
“I wonder what will happen the day when the rains will decide to be absent for five years. We need to move away from this culture of waiting for rains before we can plant and start using the waters in our rivers and lakes to produce food in our farms because that is the only alternative left,” said Gikaria.
He said the country needs to learn from Israel and Egypt and turn the dry regions of the country into food baskets.
Gikaria warned that it the country does not protect its environment then the risk of Kenyan turning into an arid country by 2030 is more real.