Pastoralist communities from Garissa County should now embrace crop farming to diversify risks brought about by drought.
Each year, pastoralist communities from Lagdera sub-county migrate to the neighbouring Isiolo county in search of pasture and water for their livestock.
This mass movement has also not augured well with the host Isiolo communities who feel threatened. Livestock farmers have been reporting huge losses in dry seasons when water becomes a rare commodity.
Tens of their livestock die leaving them with hardly anything to rely on for their survival.
Some farmers who have already embraced crop farming are already narrating sweet stories of how they are doing well. This should be a wake-up call from other livestock keepers who still hold the traditional pastoralist culture.
43-year-old Ahmed from Balambala constituency, a farmer who has embraced crop farming says he is now a contented cash crop farmer.
Ahmed had lost a good number of his animals to drought leaving him with hardly anything to hold on. It is then that he opted to give it a try on farming and the sweet story that later emerged was worth the move.
It is now high time that other livestock keepers make the move to avert the perennial losses brought by drought and famine.