utorok 18. októbra 2011

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KENYA: Disease concerns as flash floods hit coastal area

Flash floods in coastal areas of Kenya have led to several deaths (file photo)

MOMBASA, 17 October 2011 (IRIN) - Flash floods in coastal areas of Kenya have claimed several lives, damaged schools and destroyed sewage systems, leading to fears of disease outbreaks, according to officials and local residents.

Affected areas include Changamwe, Kisauni, Kongowea and Likoni estates in Mombasa, where flood waters have submerged large areas, making it difficult for residents to access clean water. Pit latrines have also been submerged in Ukunda in Kwale County, which neighbours Mombasa.

Residents depending on boreholes for their water supply have called on the government to intervene after sewage found its way into their source of clean water.

“Even water from the tap is smelling of sewage, we just don’t know what to do," Halima Hassan, a resident of Likoni, told IRIN. "We fear we might start contracting diseases if nothing is done."

John Ndung'u, the public health officer in Changamwe area, said public health officers were on high alert. "My colleagues from other districts around the region and I have been visiting public institutions, especially schools and villages in severely affected areas, to ensure that sanitation is good," he said.

Piles of filth and waste from the several open dumpsites in the town had also been swept by rain water into residential areas.

Seven people have died since the heavy rains started pounding the area in early October and four others were seriously injured when their public van was swept away by flood-waters and plunged into Rare River, Kilifi County.

Cut off

Rescue personnel from the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) and the local administration have been assisting those affected by the floods.

The KRCS coordinator in Kilifi, Samuel Kamau, urged residents to be careful when crossing flooded rivers.

"These flash floods should not be taken lightly," he said. "The locals need to be advised that they're coming with a lot of force."

The floods have also damaged several schools, forcing respective administrations to send students home. At Vitengeni Baptist Secondary School in Ganze, more than 300 students had to spend the night in the cold while others were sent home after the school's dormitories and classes collapsed due to the heavy rains.

Vitengeni school deputy, Charles Charo, said: "It was just by God's grace that the building collapsed during the day, at a time when the students were going on with their lessons... but it could have been a tragedy if it had happened at night."

Many roads have been cut off, notably in Wundanyi and Taita-Taveta districts.

The main road from Mombasa leading to Tanzania became impassible on 14 October after a section in Mangwei near Msambweni, Kwale County, collapsed, leaving several trucks stranded.

jka/js/mw

Theme (s): Early Warning, Environment, Natural Disasters, Water & Sanitation,
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

pondelok 17. októbra 2011

O situacii v polnohospodarstve v oblasti kde posobime.

KENYA: Why size matters in agricultural production

Photo: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN

Many farmers grow food just for household use (file photo)

MOMBASA-TANA RIVER, 6 October 2011 (IRIN) - Coastal areas in Kenya provide a vivid illustration of the factors that thwart agricultural potential across much of Africa: small plot sizes, minimal irrigation and endemic poverty, which precludes investment, and in turn, greater productivity.

"The locals open up very small pieces of land for farming," Elias Gitonga Kithaura, the Tana Delta District Commissioner, told IRIN.

What was needed, he said, was role models to buck this trend by farming plots of about 50 hectares.

"But are there people who are ready to exploit the resources here to grow rich?"

The local weather is suitable for large-scale production of high-value crops, such as fruit and vegetables.

Training in investment possibilities is another missing key ingredient, Stephen Muanga, the Bamba District Officer, told IRIN. Bamba is about 55km from the coastal town of Kilifi.

"The residents find it cheaper to lease out the land for pasture than to work on it, for example," said Muanga.

Poverty contributes to this, with the high cost of farming implements a deterrent. It costs about KSh2,000 [US$20] to plough 0.4ha of land.

Illiteracy is also a problem, he said, adding that in some areas almost 65 percent of residents could not read or write.

"You can get a 20-year-old who has never gone to school and has never been to Kilifi Town," he said. "There is a lack of exposure."

But even where locals engage in farming, it is mainly for subsistence. A lack of water pumps among riverine farmers for example, adversely affects the land under food production.

"In our village [Duwayo, Tana River], only one person has a water pump, which he hires out for KSh300 [$3] per day," said Isaac Dima, a resident.

"Then there is petrol to buy at KSh160 a litre [$1.60]. You have to buy all these things yourself."

Dima said local farmers were organizing into groups to secure loan facilities.

"Other than relying on food aid, it would be better if we bought the water pumps to sustain ourselves through irrigation agriculture and the sale of extra produce."

At least 45 percent of the larger Tana River population needs food aid, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

This is despite the region having Kenya's longest permanent river, the Tana, running through it.

"We have a plan to develop irrigation schemes from the dams [upstream] after their completion," said Mandara Badirido, a professor at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

Plans are under way to construct dams in Kilifi and Tana River.

"Bura and Hola irrigation schemes [in Tana River], for example, have proved that the region has the potential of producing a substantial amount of food crops that can even feed the entire nation, especially if the River Tana is utilized well," he said.

But in the past, government irrigation schemes failed due to mismanagement and are now being revamped.

Change crops

In a region where high poverty levels mean farmers are unable to buy fertilizers to obtain good crop yields, experts are recommending the adoption of low input crops such as cassava to enhance food production and thereby food security.

"The locals tend to believe that Ugali [maize flour cake] should be the staple food, yet we can cultivate short-term crops such as cassava and millet that are [more] nutritious," Josephat Mwatela, the principal of Mombasa Polytechnic University College, told IRIN.

This over-reliance on maize affects local food security as the region is a net importer of the cereal.

To help address this, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) recommends cassava production as well as the milling of cassava flour to avoid over-dependence on maize flour.

"Cassava can be used to substitute up to 50 percent maize flour in ugali without compromising on colour, taste, aroma and texture," it says.

Poor farming techniques also contribute to the loss of fertile top soils, with further impacts on food security.

For example, suspended sediments from the land brought to the sea through river discharge result in increased water turbidity, affecting fish stocks. Fish are an important food source in parts of the region.

aw-jk/am/mw

Theme (s): Economy, Food Security, Health & Nutrition,
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

Kenya sa rozhodla bojovat proti somalskym extremistom, kt. narusaju bazpecnost v krajine

17 October 2011 Last updated at 10:00 GMT

Kenyan troops move into Somalia to pursue kidnappers

Kenyan security forces speak to a local goat herdsman on the border with Somalia on 15 October 2011

Kenyan troops have been converging on the border with Somalia in recent days

Kenyan troops and armoured vehicles have crossed into neighbouring Somalia, residents say, in pursuit of militants suspected of a spate of kidnappings.

Witnesses said up to 40 Kenyan vehicles carrying soldiers had passed through the Somali town of Dhobley, near the border. Tanks were also reported.
Kenya has said its troops were going after al-Shabab militants.
But a Somali diplomat at the UN told the BBC that if the reports were true it would be a violation of sovereignty.
Several Westerners have been seized in Kenya by suspected Somali militants and taken into Somalia.
Two Spanish aid workers were abducted from Kenya's sprawling Dadaab refugee camp on Thursday.
A British woman and a French woman have been kidnapped from remote beach resorts over the past month, dealing a major blow to Kenya's tourism industry.
'Air strikes'
Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua, said on Sunday that Kenyan troops were "pursuing al-Shabab across the border", AP reported.

Analysis

Will Ross East Africa correspondent, Nairobi

Eyewitness reports say there's a heavy military presence inside Somalia of Kenyan personnel including air power.
From the Somali government's point of view it will want to send out a message that it can cope with things on its own, that it doesn't want more foreign troops in Somalia - there are already Ugandan and Burrundian propping up the government in Mogadishu - so it's a bit embarrassing in a way to then have another country coming in to help out.
From the Kenyan point of view it's trying to send out a message that it's very serious about security, the Kenyan government says it's going after al-Shabab because it thinks that al-Shabab was behind the recent kidnappings.
It's a message aimed at the Kenyan population to say 'look, we can still fight, we can still defend our country'.

The BBC's Will Ross, in Nairobi, says there are reports that Kenyan military helicopters have been carrying out raids in Somalia.

Senior Somali military commander Abdi Yusuf told Reuters news agency that warplanes had attacked two al-Shabab bases in southern Somalia but could not confirm if the jets were Kenyan.
"I can't identify the military aircraft, but our neighbour Kenya is fully supporting us militarily and our mission is to drive al-Shabab out of the region," he said.
In response, al-Shabab - the radical Islamist insurgent group in Somalia - tried to raise the alarm in the areas it controls, the Associated Press reported.
Residents in the southern town of Qoqani said militants were going into people's homes and forcibly recruiting new fighters, the agency said.
Senior al-Shabab figure Sheikh Hassan Turki vowed to repel the Kenyan forces.
"Kenya violated the territorial rights of Somalia by entering our holy land, but I assure you that they will return disappointed, God willing," he said.
"Mujahideen fighters will force them to test the pain of the bullets."
Civilian fears
Somalia's ambassador to Kenya, Mohammed Ali Nur, has denied Kenyan forces have crossed the border.

The first secretary of Somalia's mission to the UN, Omar Jamal: "Somalia is in a serious crisis"

Somalia's UN envoy, Omar Jamal, said if confirmed, a military incursion by Kenya would be "a very serious territorial intrusion by a foreign country".
"We understand the Kenyan concerns very well," he said.
"However if any action is to be taken... the Somali government has to be on the same page, the Somali government has to be informed, the Somali government has to know exactly in many details what is going on, otherwise it will be a different story."
Our correspondent says some Kenyans fear their country could become a target for more al-Shabab attacks if it becomes more deeply embroiled in Somalia's conflict.
The development comes days after the two Spanish aid workers with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), named as Blanca Thiebaut and Montserrat Serra, were taken from Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp.
Just 80km (50 miles) from the Somali border, Dadaab currently houses nearly half a million refugees, most of whom are Somalis who have fled conflict and famine.
A Kenyan driver working for the Care charity was abducted from Dadaab on 21 September.

Last month, 56-year-old Briton Judith Tebbutt was kidnapped - and her husband David killed - by gunmen while the couple were on holiday in a remote Kenyan resort at Kiwayu.
On 1 October, a 66-year-old French woman was seized by an armed gang on Kenya's northern resort island of Manda and taken to Somalia.
The UK Foreign Office has advised against all but essential travel to the Kenyan coast near the Somali border.

nedeľa 2. októbra 2011

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