KITALE, KENYA: Over 6,000 pastoralists from Pokot County have migrated to the neighbouring Uganda in search of pastures and water as drought ravages the area threatening lives of hundreds of residents.

Kacheliba Member of Parliament Mr Mark Lomunakol said that subsistence farmers in the county have lost 70 per cent of their crop to drought and that grazing fields have also dried up.

Lomunakol further said several pastoralists from the County have crossed the border to Uganda to save their livestock from being wiped out.

Lomunakol said farmers in Alale, Kasei, Konyao, Kiwawa, TaKaywa and Ombilion areas have been adversely affected after their crops were destroyed by the dry spell.

"Most farmers expected good harvest from Sorghum, Millet and Maize but the persistent drought has ruined the crops leaving families staring at imminent hunger," said the MP.

The MP disclosed that the pastoralist families have moved with their herds to Amudat, Moroto and Nakapirpirit district in Eastern Uganda.

Speaking to The Standard in Kitale, Lomunakol urged the government to open up irrigation schemes in Pokot County to mitigate the perennial drought.

"Stepping up irrigation efforts in the county will be the only long term mitigation measures to combat drought. Our people are capable of growing food if the government supports irrigation farming in the region," he said.

The MP noted that some regions in the county have good agricultural soils and asked the government to introduce irrigation projects to counter drought.





