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Kenya: Hunger Looms in Rice District
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The Nation (Nairobi)
4 July 2008
Posted to the web 4 July 2008
George Munene
Nairobi
Hundreds of people in the semi-arid Mwea Constituency may starve due to rain failure, Kirinyaga County Council chairman Cyprian Kang'eri said Thursday.
Mr Kang'eri said most crops had dried up and the residents were living on maize and beans, which had also been adversely affected by the prolonged dry spell.
He called on the Government to assist the residents with relief food urgently.
The chairman said that rice, which farmers depend on when rain fails, had been destroyed by a fungal disease known as "blast".
"Blast has destroyed thousands of acres of rice which is grown through irrigation and the lives of residents are now threatened," he said.
Mr Kang'eri said pupils from primary schools may also dropout of school due to the drought.
Speaking to the press in his Kerugoya office, the civic leader also called on well-wishers to donate food to the residents as they will not harvest anything this season because the long rains had failed.
Contacted for comment, area district commissioner Ferdinand Otwani said he was aware of the serious situation.
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He said that his office had applied for relief food from the relevant authority, adding that the Government would not like people to die of hunger.
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