How lives are cut short by farmers who plant toxic cassava to scare thieves

Thomas Owiny, a cassava farmer at Gem Kambare in Siaya County attends to his crop at his farm. [PHOTO: COLLINS ODUOR/STANDARD]

SIAYA: The poisonous variety of cassava that has led to several deaths in Siaya County is known to agricultural officers.

It has also emerged farmers plant it to keep thieves at bay.

Known in Dholuo as “nyaka anegi” (I must kill you), this variety is secretly planted in between the safer variety to deter thieves who stray into others’ farms.

That variety has killed many people, mostly children, who eat it raw to fight hunger during seasons when maize and other cereals such as sorghum are scarce or expensive.

If the variety is put through the right process -- fermented, cleaned, dried and ground -- over several days, then it is safe for human for consumption.

During the dry period, though, most families never have food, or the patience, and settle for “nyaka anegi” even from their own farms and hope for the best.

But many a time, they end up grieving, as it happened last Sunday when four children from one family died after eating cassava at Uhuru, Bara Gulu village in Siaya County.

The victims included Vivian Otieno, 17, Stephen Otieno, 12, Christine Otieno, 11 and and Calvins Otieno, eight. The fifth child, Flavian Otieno, 12, survived and is recuperating at the Siaya County Referral Hospital.

Their father, Sylvanus Otieno, a teacher at Ojola Primary School in Gem Sub-County and the mother, Penninah Akoth Ouma, said the children had eaten the cassava on Saturday and Sunday, before suddenly falling ill.

They started falling ill one after the other on that fateful Sunday morning. But yesterday, The Standard reliably learnt that many farmers in Siaya know about the unsafe cassava variety but continue to plant it “to kill crop thieves.”

Siaya agriculture officials have revealed for the first time that cassava farmers are mixing varieties during planting to save their farms from thieves.

The unsafe variety has excessive cyanide -- a chemical dangerous to humans. 

It is suspected the family may have inadvertently planted the poisonous cassava in their farm.

“The poisonous cassava can only kill if eaten raw. The levels of poison are reduced once it is boiled or dried and turned in to flour. The children who succumbed are said to have eaten raw tubers at the farm.

“There are two main cassava varieties. Both have cyanide but there is one, recognisable by its smaller leaves, which has dangerous levels of cyanide,” Jactone Nyapola, the county Chief Officer for Agriculture said.

PROPER PEELING

He said families are advised to peel cassava properly, wash it thoroughly and let it cook well, adding that children were more vulnerable to cyanide and the outcomes are worst when they consume cassava raw.

Interestingly, Nyapola said he was aware of the shocking story that this deadly cassava variety was still in many farms across the county.

Isaac Munyendo, County Director of Agriculture, said most of the poisonous cassava comes from local farmers as most of them plant the two varieties in the same farm to avoid the risks of losing their yields to thieves.

“There is need to sensitise the families on how to utilise the cassava after harvest. There is no point of mixing the varieties on one farm,” he said.

Sometimes, he said, the poisonous variety is harvested and taken to the markets by those who do not know how to differentiate the varieties.

UNSAFE VARIETY

“The unsafe variety poses a great danger to school-going children who would stray into any farm while hungry to uproot and eat the tubers,” he said.

The agriculture director appealed to residents to clarify to their friends and relatives when giving them both varieties to avoid unnecessary deaths.

“Farmer-to-farmer communication enhances food security which is our major aim. There is need to be clear on the cassava issue just the same way farmers are given information before they are given the seeds for planting,” he added.

Charles Ogada, a project coordinator at Ugunja Resource Centre where farmers are trained on how to grow cassava said he was shocked over the revelation that farmers plant the unsafe variety with the sole intention of harming others.

The project coordinator said some farmers rush to harvest the cassava before a year elapses due to food shortage and end up eating or selling it to unsuspecting consumers when cyanide levels are still dangerously high.

But 75-year old Magdalene Achieng from Ugenya sub-county has no apologies for planting the “nyaka anegi” variety because it keeps thieves away.

Siaya Deputy Governor Wilson Ouma said the county administration will embark on a programme to sensitise residents on the two cassava varieties to reduce illness and death.

“There is need for educating the people so deaths can be avoided. All those involved in cassava-farming should plant the varieties in separate farms,” he said.

“The issue of theft will be addressed and the county government will sensitise the community.”