The ongoing dry spell in several parts of Kenya has brought untold suffering to farmers at the Coast.
Several wells have dried up, leaving crop and livestock farmers with no water for irrigation or to offer their animals.
However, it is the greenhouse farmers in the region who are finding the going tough as temperatures in the region average 34 degrees Celsius.
Sr Lydia Makori, who grows tomatoes in Mtwapa, Kilifi County in greenhouses, says this year’s temperatures are too high, a situation that has made greenhouse farming nearly impossible.
“We were forced to abandon greenhouse plastic film for shade netting after our tomatoes and vegetables started to wither,” says Makori, who belongs to the Sisters of Mary Mother of God, Mombasa.
The nuns have been farming in greenhouses since 2016 and initially, they had no problem until temperatures started to rise.
“We had no choice but to replace the plastic films with shade nets. When we were using greenhouses, our vegetables were yellowing, or withering most of the time,” Sr Makori says.
According to her, the shade nets are better as compared to greenhouse materials because they allow good air circulation.