We must protect our farmlands to ensure high yields, harvests

Heads of cabbage on a farm at Cheptongei in Elgeyo Marakwet. [Christopher Kipsang, Standard]

It is no doubt that agriculture is the backbone of the country's economy. Food is the major basic need for everyone, without which life becomes unbearable and unsustainable.

Most areas in the country are fit for crop production despite the varying climatic conditions of every region.

In the countryside, we still have enough land for cultivation, but mostly you find that many farmers lack sufficient farm inputs for sustainable crop production plus the adverse weather conditions, which converts to very low yields or poor harvests.

Given that we rely on them for food, the poor yields then become insufficient to meet the demand curve of the country.

Interfering with the forest cover in the major catchment areas has led to unreliable rainfall patterns that cannot support consistent crop production. There's a need for creating awareness of the importance of trees through various channels so that we can embrace the culture of tree planting on farms.

This will lead to reduced dependency on the forests and their products which in turn helps to conserve the forests which are a source of rainfall.

Poor infrastructure in most remote places has also been a challenge. Poor road access hinders the movement of inputs in and food products out, food crops end up rotting after harvesting especially when it's done on large scale for commercial purposes.

This then denies the consumer the opportunity to get food supplies from the farmers and it even turns out they on the other hand incur so many losses as a result.

When the correct approach and collaboration among the relevant stakeholders is adopted, the issues on food security can be put in place perfectly well.

Letter from Rosemary Adego.