Ukambani enjoys season of plenty

• Rare good rains and farm subsidies unleash dry region’s potential as future food basket

The government is also allowing farmers to store their grain in the National Cereals and Produce Board silos.

Agriculture permanent secretary Romano Kiome announced last week that the ministry would establish more community-based cereal storage facilities.

“An integrated plan involving the public health department, farmers and agricultural officers has been put in place to provide proper storage,” Dr Kiome told journalists during a tour of the region.

The PS said the community storage centres would be installed with moisture meters to ensure compliance with standard storage requirements.

The initiative, which also involves providing free chemicals to farmers who agree to store their produce in NCPB and the community cereal banks, is intended to discourage farmers from selling their grain.

However, drought experts in the region are already warning that celebration over anticipated crop yields may be short-lived because the amount of food harvested will not be sufficient to last the year.

According to statistics compiled by the Arid Lands Resource Management Project, a World Bank-funded programme under the Prime Minister’s Office, the region is just in the recovery phase.

Two weeks ago, the Sunday Nation carried a story about how frustration was setting in among farmers in Mbooni and Machakos whose maize and sorghum crops were being attacked by army worms and American bollworms.

But the worms did not inflict major damage as many were killed by rain water.