Climate-related diseases: Prevention should precede cure

In 2011, a viral maize disease hit Kenya’s breadbasket, Rift Valley, and depressed yields within months. Farmers woke up to barren lands, wilted maize and dried stalks. Scientists blamed a host of factors, including poor seeds, for the spread of the disease, which was christened maize lethal necrosis (MLN).

In 2012 alone, when the spread of the disease reached epidemic proportions, farmers in Rift Valley lost 697,000 bags of maize worth Sh2.1 billion after MLN affected 26,000 hectares.