William Ruto Agriculture Minister, has called Kenyans to change their eating habit by embracing tradational food.
" Kenyans do not find tradational foods such as sweetpotatoes, arrowroots and cassava juicy...their prefer chips," Said Mr Ruto in Citizen Television interview yesterday.
He said that the citizens need to set their mindset on the tradational food instead of depending on maize only.
Majority of Kenyans prefer eating ugali/posho. The current drought has affected the growth of maize which is gridded to produce maize floor for preparing Ugali. The meal is common in every homestead in Kenya.
However, following a long spell of drought some have found it hard to meet even a single meal a day.
Dr. Naomi Shabaan, Special Programme Minister Speaking on the same show, said that the situation is getting worse in the ground. she said that regions which used to be relief dependence free are now in dire need of relief.
" People are farming for the sake of farming...," She said.
The government has mobilised security agencies to transport the relief food to the affected areas. Which is then distributed by the District streering committee on relief.
Dr. Shabaan said that for people living in urban areas will be given their relief in the means of voucher.She said that their are working closely with District committee at wards level to identify the needy before issuing the food voucher.
The current problem has been blamed on poor governance.
" Let me state without pointing fingers that we have serious governance issue,...its shame that after 40-years of independence we cant support ourselves," said the Agriculture Minister.
He blamed the way agriculture fund allocation is done by the treasury.
He said that the biggest challenge is to make agriculture profitable to attract even the youth.
Speaking at the same occassion John Mutunga, who represented Farmers said that the government should invest more on agriculture by subsidizing the cost of inputs and invest in information, communication and technology.
He warned that if things do not change the way their are, the situation will be catastrophic; especially where young people are abandoning farming as a professional.
" For the next 20-years we will be importing agriculture experts," He said.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
The Nairobi
Friday is a day we are all happy of. However, 7th August 2009 started in reassuring way when i opened the tap and water started trinkling in drops after a few days of water rationing in Nairobi area. The switching on the power gave me hope that the day will be reassuring one and fullfill the town saying of 'furahi dai' after i slept without watching the news due to power blackout.
After taking my chores i hurriedly picked my bag and rushed out to catch the next matatu to plir me in town for the days activity. My trek was made more excting by the aroma of the brewing of the beer in the East Africa Breweries Limited(EABL), Ruaraka area.
Luckly, i was spared to dust my shoe when the Matatu caught me before i could trek for long. After boarding the vehicle the driver started off the engine heading back toward our estate so that he could fill the remaining seats.
It took five minutes and the driver was heading to town at full speed. Thika road is always a busy highway and sometimes the traffic jam can make the vehicle be stuck for a whole hour in a 20 minutes drive. Today its was not exception.
After a slow moving traffic we reached General Service Unit(GSU) roundabout. A body of a man was lying cold on the other side of flyover. Before i could internalise what was happening the Classic FM Presenter Maina Kageni announced on his traffic updates the incident.
An hour later i was in Ngala road alighting from the vehicle. I navigated through the busy streets and headed to Development House where my days activity begun. Few hours later i decided to drop my CVs.
When i reached near Nation house, i was welcomed by an attractive billboard adverts on the weekly newspapers, the EastAfrican and the Business Daily. My excitement was again halted by another alleged corpse lying in the back of the vehicle packed outside. According to crowd present the person had commited suicide by jumping from the nearby building.
Unlike Kampala, where you will find people walking slowly the Nairobi people are always busy people in hurry going where i have never understood even now.
Ever heard of a city within a city. Let me tell you of one in Westland, the city is not what you are thinking its a shopping market called Yaya centre in westlands.
Do you know why i was there? Wait and......
After taking my chores i hurriedly picked my bag and rushed out to catch the next matatu to plir me in town for the days activity. My trek was made more excting by the aroma of the brewing of the beer in the East Africa Breweries Limited(EABL), Ruaraka area.
Luckly, i was spared to dust my shoe when the Matatu caught me before i could trek for long. After boarding the vehicle the driver started off the engine heading back toward our estate so that he could fill the remaining seats.
It took five minutes and the driver was heading to town at full speed. Thika road is always a busy highway and sometimes the traffic jam can make the vehicle be stuck for a whole hour in a 20 minutes drive. Today its was not exception.
After a slow moving traffic we reached General Service Unit(GSU) roundabout. A body of a man was lying cold on the other side of flyover. Before i could internalise what was happening the Classic FM Presenter Maina Kageni announced on his traffic updates the incident.
An hour later i was in Ngala road alighting from the vehicle. I navigated through the busy streets and headed to Development House where my days activity begun. Few hours later i decided to drop my CVs.
When i reached near Nation house, i was welcomed by an attractive billboard adverts on the weekly newspapers, the EastAfrican and the Business Daily. My excitement was again halted by another alleged corpse lying in the back of the vehicle packed outside. According to crowd present the person had commited suicide by jumping from the nearby building.
Unlike Kampala, where you will find people walking slowly the Nairobi people are always busy people in hurry going where i have never understood even now.
Ever heard of a city within a city. Let me tell you of one in Westland, the city is not what you are thinking its a shopping market called Yaya centre in westlands.
Do you know why i was there? Wait and......
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