Gloom amid plenty: The story of disillusioned Ahero farmers

Anjeline Akinyi, a worker weeds in a rice field at Ahero irrigation scheme in Kisumu County. (Denish Ochieng, Standard)

Farmers in Nyanza’s largest rice farming belt, Ahero and West Kano irrigation schemes, are abandoning the crop in their numbers due to a myriad of challenges the government seems to have turned a blind eye to.

Investigations and interviews with various stakeholders revealed that farmers are increasingly leasing out their paddies after failed efforts to earn a living from the crop.