By Moses Ndung’u
Due to the erratic weather patterns
and the unpredictable climatic extensions, many farmers have fallen prey to the
faith of coming rain that is really unyielding, characterized by faint drizzles
that border flora supportive rainfall, long spells of sunshine and the
subsequent global warming effects.
The staple food of many Kenyans being
maize products, that is, the cereals, many Kenyans have undertaken virtual
mono-cropping, that is, maize and beans. These plants do very well in semi-arid
area hence their popularity. Unfortunately for their climatic warm and cold
adaptations, the situations is now soaring towards hot and dry, an adverse
climatic order for the plants success.
Presently, due to the latter weather
condition, many dams have dried and the few with a little hope are on the trend
of drying. This is caused by several factors that obliviously couple to annihilate
any source of water.
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| Cassava on display |
These factors are the hot weather and
the irrigation practiced by those near the water sources. Now what is the
survival exit? With the pressing need for human basic needs, the tight
ecological balance has been upset. The animals as well as the plants are
affected. And this draws a huge circle of drag-ins.
To avert what is now a huge and
yawning expectation of doom, it would be good if farmers considered other kind
of farming to make the ends meet. This is provided for if drought resistant
crops are put into consideration and the mono-cropping done away with or
practiced on subsistence agenda.
These drought resistant crops include
hay, millet, cassava, sweet potatoes and sorghum. Hay has good annual returns
than maize and could compensate on food on financial grounds. Also, hay
requires little workload and labour hence its eligibility for the drought fighting
arena.
Millet is a crop that has rich
nutritional value and does well in very dark times, it serves starch as well as
maize does with an ounce better, it is cheap to undertake and highly
marketable.
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