Machakos county residents have been urged to conserve the environment and join hands with the Ministry of Environment and Natural resources in planting trees.
This follows a prolonged drought in the region with plenty of semi arid areas thus poverty and hunger has greatly affected the region, according to Machakos First Lady Lillian Nganga.
Speaking when she toured various children’s home in the county and donated beddings and food stuffs, Nganga said that the county government is aspiring to increase a tree cover to at least 10 percent.
“Let us join in conserving our environment because this is where we get our food and water bearing in mind Machakos has been experiencing challenges when there are no rains,” she said.
The first lady further condemned the massive burning of charcoal in Tala and Kangundo and assured the perpetrators that the county government will not relent of heinous act and if found they will be brought to books to tame land degradation.
“Those who bring about land degradation by burning charcoals their days are numbered thus I urge the local chiefs to be vigilant on those perpetrators,” she said.
She however expressed her gratitude to the residents for their hard work in farming and urged them to continue tilling their lands to avoid starvation in the near future.