Agriculture Principal Secretary Ibrahim Mohamed has urged Garissa residents to take advantage of the ongoing rains to plant food crops.
Mohamed said there was no point for Garissa residents to rely on food donations when the county can grow its own food and become famine free. He said he would rally government to introduce technology that will help locals to add value to their produce before marketing.
“Promoting value additional in a disease-free zone is their ultimate aim,” Ibrahim said the county’s residents.
“Herders would like to see their meat, milk, hides and skin among other products being processed locally. There is a lot of milk and meat that go to waste.”
He spoke in Garissa town when he facilitated a consultative forum for the Third Medium Term Plan.
He said government will soon build modern refrigeration facilities for beef produced in the mostly arid county. Garissa is among devolved units inhabited by pastoralist communities and therefore produces beef in large portions.
The county’s livestock sector is however, periodically affected by drought which drives away the cattle herders to neighbouring counties in search of water and pasture.
Ibrahim said many farmers lost their livestock to drought and were now grappling with the issue floods due to the heavy rains presently pounding the county.
“We want to adopt mitigation measures that will lessen losses brought about by floods. We will liaise with the Irrigation and Environment ministries on how best to address these concerns so that farmers don’t suffer huge losses during floods,” he said.
“They want early warning systems enhanced so that floodwaters can be stored in dams and released at the appropriate time, and used during dry spells.”
CAPTION: A sample of yellow maize grow in Garissa.