Machakos County Director of Meteorological services, Dominic Kyalo, has advised farmers to start preparing their farms in readiness for the October short rains.

Kyalo disclosed that the county will enjoy between 35-45 days of rainfall whose intensity will vary from between 150mm to 400m.

According to the director, Machakos will receive consistent rainfall from October 28 to November 8 with the showers expected to start seceding from December 2nd _13th.

Following the weather advisory, Kyalo said that the county had started advising farmers on the correct type of crops to plant to ensure they maximize on the October rains and to avert the possibility of crop failure resulting from lack of proper guidance.

‘Together with other stakeholders we tried to dissect the weather forecast so as to get an advisory to issue to farmers to prepare their seeds and activities to do on their farms depending on the amount of rainfall forecasted for October, November and December,’ said Kyalo.

Kyalo said that a majority of
the farmers had been advised to plant Green grams which is fast maturing crop. However, for sub counties which are expected receive below normal rainfall of about 150mm-250 mm, farmers had been advised to plant resilient crops such as sorghum and chickpeas which tend to do well because of its high water holding capacity.

Kyalo spoke during a three- day Participatory Scenario Planning (PSP), training which was organized in partnership with IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre(ICPAC). The training brought together agriculture stakeholders from the County and National government such as crop and livestock experts, officers from Fisheries, Water and Environmental Department and farmers from different sub-counties in Machakos.

The county Chief Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Catherine Mutanu, said that they will work together with the ward Climate Change Committees to advise farmers on the importance of timely planting.

Mutanu who is also acting as the CECM
for Water and Environment, noted that in the last two years the county had constructed more than 80 dams and sunk multiple boreholes as way of ensuring that farmers have access to water for irrigation.Ms Mutanu also said that the county had also doubled its efforts in ensuring food security by distributing seeds in preparation for the coming rain season.

‘Let us be keen on what the meteorological department is saying for us to have a good harvest,’ said Ms Mutanu.

One of the farmers who attended the training Jeremiah Katulu from Katangi in Yatta Sub County commended the stakeholders and experts for the training.Katulu is a farmer who specializes in dairy and crops farming noted that the advisory will help him understand the right type of seeds based on the expected amount of rainfall.

‘After this meeting we will go back to our villages and advise other farmers on the weather forecast so that they decide on the best seeds to use and how to prepare their farms and water storage facilities to also save enough
water for their cattle,’ said Katulu.

Source: Kenya News Agency