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Kenya: Farmers “need help to reap rewards of El-Niño rains”
NAIROBI: Following below-average harvests in 2007 and 2008, Kenya's grain farmers need seed and fertiliser support to enable them to make use of El Niño rains, expected between October and December 2009, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says.
"Given that most of the farmers, both in high potential and agriculturally marginal ecosystems, lost most of what they invested in the short rains of 2008 and long rains of 2009, there is an urgent need to support them with inputs such as seed and fertiliser, to enable them to utilise the anticipated El Niño rains … [to enhance] their household food security and contribute towards bridging of the deficit in the national grain and other food budget," FAO said on 27 August 2009.
The agency appealed for US$23 million to enable it and the Ministry of Agriculture to supply various inputs to at least 100,000 families, "each growing an average of three acres in Rift Valley, Central Kenya highlands and marginal agricultural areas of eastern Kenya".
