June 21, 2013
Farmers in the North Rift Region of Kenya will soon begin to grow their crops under irrigation following the construction of multimillion shillings dam that will supply them with water.
The offer from Cankeen International, an export company will mostly benefit farmers in Uasin Gishu County of Kenya. The move sets a departure for local farmers from the traditional farming techniques
The Cankeen International an Export Promotion Company says that the organization has rolled out the pilot project to empower the farmers who from the past solely depend on rain water to grow their crop.
Dominic Biwott, the manager of the organization challenges the farmers to embrace the practice saying that currently the problem of climate change has affected a number of farmers leading to poor yields.
He singles out some of the areas which they have identified where the dam will be constructed include, Ziwa, Mois-Bridge and Cheptiret in Kenya.
Biwot saiys that they plan to construct a total of over 30 dams in the marked sites where the farmers would continue to grow crops even during the dry spell in November, December and January.
As a result of climate change we have witnessed farmers who travel as far as Nairobi to come to Eldoret to buy fruits and vegetables after the ones their planted was hit by hailstorms,’’ says Biwoett.
The manager says that if the farmers involve themselves in irrigation, practice of crops getting spoilt by hailstorms will be a thing of the past.