After floodwaters destroyed their rice farms, rice farmers in Ahero, Kisumu County, are tallying their losses.
Over 800 acres of rice farms have been impacted by floods brought on by the Saturday burst of the River Nyando, according to the National Irrigation Authority (NIA), which is in charge of the Ahero and West Kano irrigation projects.
The torrential flood waters, according to Kennedy Ouma, the manager of the NIA Scheme, had washed out every farm.
“We are evaluating the damage, but the circumstances are bad; farmers have suffered significant losses,” he states.
Ouma reports that while evaluations are being conducted to determine the extent of the damage, the farmers’ anticipated bountiful crop has now suffered a setback.
The occurrence, he continues, is probably going to be a setback to the national government’s efforts to guarantee adequate food security through rice production.
Speaking in Ahero, Ouma notes that the majority of farmers used loans to expand their crops, and many of them are currently counting huge losses out of concern that the flooding may not stop.
In Nyando, the floods have forced hundreds of people to flee, blocking roads.
