Measures which can be taken to avoid famine in Kenya

  

Date Posted: 1/7/2013 1:17:19 AM

Posted By: fancy03  Membership Level: Gold  Total Points: 1287

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About two years ago,the local and international media were awash with images of people facing starvation in Northern Kenya.The deplorable and heart wrenching conditions that our citizens were in prompted the Kenyans for Kenya initiative which raised half a billion shillings to aid the suffering people.While this was a noble initiative , it largely dealt with the effects and not the causes of the famine.This means that if another drought does occur,we are likely to find ourselves in the same embarrassing situation.To prevent this,the country needs to take proactive measures to ensure that this does not happen again.

Investing in irrigation will help increase the volume of food produced and reduce the reliance on rain fed agriculture.In our current circumstances if the rains fail,we produce no food and thus we go hungry.The government could put more money into developing irrigation schemes and reclaiming arid and semi arid areas to make them more suitable for farming.Farmers should also be educated on how to properly irrigate their farms so that they can grow food all year round and not only in the rainy seasons.They could also be provided with the irrigating equipment at subsidized costs.There are also solar powered water pumps which could help out a lot.The climate has changed and the weather will continue to be erratic,it is therefore for us to change our tactics as well.

The government should invest in intensive research to develop crops that are best suited for certain areas.These should also be crops that are drought resistant and disease resistant as well.Some crops have been developed so far that are able to produce a larger volume of food.

Kenyans also need to diversify their diets to reduce over dependence on maize.In Kenya currently famine means that there is a shortage in maize.We could move to other foods such as

cassava,potatoes and rice and invest more in their production.This means that even if one crop fails,we will still have food.

The agricultural sector should be streamlined so that farmers always have markets for their food products.Some farmers have abandoned their trade because of the uncertain food prices and sometimes losses.The government could offer to buy this food from them and store it for future purposes.The young jobless young men will thus be encouraged to engage in food production activities which will kill two birds by also providing them with the much needed employment.

It would not be enough if we only produced the food.A couple of years back,there were images of people throwing away milk because the local KCC could not buy all of it.This is sad considering some people will be in dire need of that food in a few months" time.The government needs to invest in proper processing and modern storage facilities so that when we have food in plenty we can store it for future use.Milk could be turned into powder that could be stored for maybe up to to two years.

Mostly when there is a famine,we only get to hear of it when it has reached to its worst.We should put in place proper mechanisms to be able to predict when a famine is in the offing given the current statistics and trends.This will help the country to ready its emergency mechanisms for response to a famine.Food will be availed in time to prevent any more deaths.

Theses are just a few of the steps that could be taken to ensure that we do not find ourselves in
the embarrassing situation of a nation unable to feed itself.

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