The Turkana County Executive for Agriculture, Livestock Development and Fisheries, David Erukudi has said there was need for government and private actors to redefine food production systems to be at a commercial level and not the current state, where food produced from irrigation schemes is limited to households’ consumption. Erukudi said a collaborative approach between the government and relevant stakeholders was key in unlocking the challenges facing the agricultural sector and ensuring that funds allocation to livelihoods activities match the output. The county executive was speaking during a two-day planning and coordination workshop for partners and stakeholders working in the local agricultural sector that kicked off at BlackGold hotel in Lokichar. The objective of the workshop, organised by the County Department of Agriculture was to streamline activities’ implementation and align them to the nine-point agenda of Governor Jeremiah Lomorukai across all thematic areas. Turkana County is one of the food insecure counties that also bore the brunt of the drought that has affected most ASAL counties in the country, despite the ongoing rains. The CEC said the County Government had made a decision to sign Memorandum of Understanding with partner organisations in Turkana to effectively coordinate them and also realign the programs to the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP). The County Executive acknowledged climate change effects to farming practices and underlined the need to capacity-build communities for sustainability, once donors or government exits from locations, where projects have been implemented. The county Ag. Director of Agriculture, Victor Lochee said one of the action plans from the meeting was zoning partners into food hubs and spreading them across government’s priority areas, especially the targeted irrigation schemes at Katilu, Kangalita, Nakwamoru and Morulem. Meanwhile, the directorate of meteorological services has forecasted that the county will experience showers of rains this week. County meteorological director Francis Muinda said there will be a general increase of rainfall in the entire county during the course of the week as we approach the peak of rainfall in April 2023. ‘Residents are advised to be extremely careful during this period as we anticipate to experience both flash floods and riverine floods in the county,’ said Muinda. According to the weather outlook for the week of 24th April to 2nd May 2023, Turkana County is expected to experience morning light to moderate rains as well as afternoon and night showers and thunderstorms over several places during the forecast period. ‘Maximum temperatures are expected to oscillate between 25.00C and 30.00C. Minimum temperatures are expected to oscillate between 18.00C and 19.00C,’ the forecast indicates.

Source: Kenya News Agency