[Source: The Standard, by Harold Odhiambo and Anne Otieno]
Farmers in the Ahero rice belt region and West Kano irrigation schemes are abandoning the crop in large numbers amid fears of food shortage and rise in unemployment.
Some of the challenges pushing the rice farmers out of the sector include severe destruction of farms by the swollen lake, the rising cost of production, lack of extension officers, pest infestations and floods and hailstorms.
Reports by the National Irrigation Board paint a disturbing picture of several farms were left idle as rice production drops by 40 per cent from 2019…
