Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi has announced that the government has no plans to compensate farmers who suffered crop losses due to heavy flooding across the country.
The announcement came as a disappointment to farmers who were hoping to get support from the government to help them recover from the devastating impact of the floods.
In a written response to the Senate following a query by Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana, Linturi stated that there is no budgetary allocation for compensating farmers impacted by the floods.
“The Government has no budgetary allocation for compensation of farmers affected by floods,” Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi said.
This statement directly contradicts the earlier remarks made by Agriculture Principal Secretary Paul Ronoh, who had hinted at the government’s plans to compensate farmers affected by the floods
Linturi Ministry earlier Position
Just days before Linturi’s announcement, Ronoh said that the government was in the process of collecting data on affected farmers to facilitate the compensation process.
“We are making arrangements as government to compensate all farmers whose farms have been affected,” said Ronoh during a seed distribution event in Kericho County.
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He also noted that the government had already assessed several affected farms and compensation would be done once the mapping was completed.
“Last week alone, 33 hectares of farmland had been destroyed by floods and we are making rounds and consulting as a government how we will compensate farmers,” the Agriculture PS noted.
Impact of the floods on farmlands
The impact of the floods has been particularly severe in Tana River County, where 10,864 acres of crops grown under irrigation schemes have been destroyed.
These crops, valued at a staggering Ksh734.40 million, include mangoes, coconuts, cashew nuts, bananas, maize, rice, tomatoes, and watermelon.
In addition to the devastating crop losses, livestock valued at Ksh7.82 million died in Tana River alone.
Data from government spokesman Isaac Mwaura showed that the heavy rainfall caused widespread destruction across the country, with over 168,000 acres of farmland affected and approximately 8,722 livestock reported dead.
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“The farmers along the river are in a state of despair, they have lost everything. The farms have been washed; the destruction is very devastating term intervention,” noted Dubat Ali Amey, the Chairman of the Kenya National Farmers Federation.
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