Pastoralists in Tana Delta Sub County, Tana River County are a worried lot and are living in fear of losing their livestock during the El Nino rains.
Their fears are compounded by the fact that they lost a large number of livestock during last year’s drought.
Evidence of the negative effects of the drought still sprawl the area as skeletons of dead animals litter around.
At Kipao village, 51 year old Dido Bocha said that too much water expected in the area ranging from flood waters from up stream the River Tana and the above average rainfall projected will sweep away livestock and bring about diseases.
“We heard in the news that El Nino is coming and as I know from the 1997 experience we know there will be destruction and we should be helped because our animals die when we have floods and drought,” he said.
Mr Bocha who is a father of six said that he lost 120 goats and 40 cows to drought in 2021 and the few ones remaining may also be lost with the rains.
“Even when you look around you can see that is the skeleton of one of the cows that I lost during the drought. I had 200 goats but now I only have 70 and I had 50 cows but I have remained with only 10 of them,” he said.
He blames climate change for their economic suffering saying that the ever changing climatic conditions have greatly affected their economic livelihood.
Allegations of neglect by the government are in everyone’s lips as Mr Bocha said that the government does not compensate them after the losses.
He is lucky that a local Non Governmental Organization (NGO) distributed gala goats in the area after the drought and he calls for more support to uplift them.
“Ever since I started keeping animals I have only received help from Nature Kenya who distributed Gala goats to us after we lost our livestock in the drought,” he said.
He urged insurance companies that can offer animal insurance to come to their aid saying that the livestock offtake program and the government animal insurance were ineffective.
“If there is an animal insurance cover, we really need it because there is one that we have enrolled into but we don’t receive compensation when we lose animals,” he said.
His story is not different from that of 56-year-old Boru Odicho from Bura Kirashi village who said that he has been losing hundreds of his livestock to drought whenever it happens.
He added that with El Nino rains, more goats will die due to excess water that will make pasture soggy and unsuitable for animal consumption hence resulting in diseases that may eventually kill the goats.
“When we experience a lot of rain, we get problems with our animals and goats start dying and we are foreseeing losses with the coming El Nino. I have lost many animals due to drought and I am stuck because the excess rain may bring more losses,” he said.
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