Irrigation farmers along River Tana in Garissa county are counting huge loses running into millions of shillings after floods swept away their irrigation engines and submerged their horticultural crops.
Banane group farm chairman Hassan Issack yesterday said the floods have rendered them destitute and they will have to start from ‘square one’.
“We don’t know where to start from. Crops whose value is close to a million were swept away by the floods and for the past one and half weeks the farm has been submerged in flood waters,” he said.
Issack spoke after taking the press for a tour of the destroyed 7 acre farm.
“Mango trees have started drying up and we might lose all the ripe mangoes. Other crops such us tomatoes, water melon were either swept away or are submerged in flood waters and by the time the water subside they will be rotten,” he added.
Issack said a new diesel generator pump set they received as donation from the National Drought Management Authority was also swept by floods and efforts to retrieve it have been futile.
“We sent in divers to locate the pump set but in vain. The flood waters are even dangerous and we feared that the divers may drown. The river is also infested with crocodiles,” he added.
Guthe Yussuf, a member of the group farm appealed to well wishers to come to their aid by donating irrigation equipment, seeds and funds to enable them restore the irrigation canals that have also been destroyed.
“We are back to where we started two years ago. We are left with nothing and we are appealing to the government and other well wishers to come to our aid,” he said.
