Rice is a staple food in Kenya's urban areas, but with floods destroying young crops in recent weeks and imports restricted by the COVID-19 pandemic, stocks may run short
AHERO, Kenya, May 29 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Under the scorching sun, farmer Dennis Onyango was replanting his rice fields yet again in Ahero, a town in southwest Kenya, after his entire crop of seedlings had been wiped out by floods - for the third time this year.
The inundation of rice fields across Kenya over the past two months could worsen food insecurity in a country already struggling to feed a fast-urbanising population, said Joel Tanui, western Kenya manager at the National Irrigation Board (NIB).
Kenya's recent floods have ruined harvests in several rice production hubs - including Kisumu, Homa Bay and Busia counties - which Tanui said together supply up to 40% of all rice grown in the country.
"As many people in the country continue to move to urban areas, most of them largely depend on rice as a staple food, unlike those in rural areas who hardly eat rice," said the NIB's Tanui.
Wemanya suggested rice farmers could turn to agroforestry - the practice of planting trees among crops - to help protect their plants, as the trees can break up and slow down flood waters while stabilising the soil.
