After floods destroyed their crops, Garissa farmers plead with us to rebuild their lives

Farmers in Garissa State have called on the State, non-State actors and well-wishers to help flood-affected residents rebuild their lost livelihoods.

They say they have received little aid since their farms were destroyed by floods three months ago.

Led by Abdi Farah, chairman of the Garissa Farmers Network, they further urged the government to speed up compensation, saying they had lost everything, including water pumps.

They spoke on Thursday after receiving over 2,000 orange seedlings donated by the Garissa Community Organisation to supplement the lost crops.

“Only the Garissa Community Organisation and Islamic Relief came to the aid of the affected farmers. As you all know, all the farms along the river were flooded and the losses amounted to millions of shillings,” he said.

Ogel Gure of Ifting Farm said the seedlings will help them replace the orange trees they have lost.

“I lost 40 orange and mango trees that I had been growing for 10 years. The floods were terrible,” he said.

Gure said they expected the seedlings to acclimate well as the climatic conditions in Garissa County were as good as those in Makueni County where the fruit trees were growing well.

Garissa community groups have also donated floating barrels to farmers whose pumps were washed away, said Ebla Hassan, secretary of the Garissa Farmers Network, which has more than 7,000 members.

“Floating buckets are best for farmers as they can withstand flooding which happens twice a year,” she said.

Ebla called on well-wishers and non-governmental organizations to help farmers rebuild their lost livelihoods.

Garissa farmers suffered huge losses during the April-May rains when the Thane River burst its banks, flooding farmlands and destroying crops.

There are 3,000 farmers along the river and 290 farms in Garissa, Balambala, Bura and Masalani districts.