Campaign launched to help Garissa livestock farmers avoid drought-related losses

Garissa County has activated community-managed disaster risk reduction committees at the ward level ahead of the October-December rainy season.

Daud Ahmed Shalle, the Kenya Red Cross Garissa branch coordinator, said the committees were activated to roll out an awareness campaign to avert chances of losses among livestock farmers due to the predicted below-average rains that may lead to a prolonged drought.

"Our disaster risk reduction teams have already been dispatched to several sub-counties in Garissa to activate the ward committees who would be disseminating early warnings on the predicted La Niña to livestock farmers to avert chances of losing their livelihood," Daud said.

Speaking in Garissa town on Tuesday during a media workshop for Garissa-based journalists, the Kenya Red Cross coordinator revealed that the local pastoralist communities were advised to sell their large stock of animals and restock them during the rainy seasons when there will be plenty of water and pasture.

"Conservation of their water pans and proper management of the rangelands were part of the information that was disseminated to the community," he stated.

He said the lack of community-managed disaster risk reduction in the past largely contributed to the loss of livelihoods to the local community which has been affected by a vicious cycle of drought.

He said the committees were trained under the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) disaster preparedness and participatory programme designed to reduce loss of livelihoods ahead of drought and flood disasters.

Daud also said that farmers were receiving information through the programme to actively engage in crop farming without the fear of floods that frequently destroyed their crops during the rainy seasons.

He said farmers Garissa incurred huge losses during the last October-December heavy rains and the recent March-April rains that marooned farmlands after the River Tana burst its banks.

Currently, he said, the Kenya Red Cross is helping the local farmers to grow bamboo trees to stabilise river banks and restore degraded farming land along the River Tana.

The Kenya Red Cross held a half-day workshop for Garissa-based journalists to discuss areas of collaboration and conducted briefs on their current wide range of humanitarian activities in the county.

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