Over 6,000 irrigation farmers as well as fishermen in Mpeketoni and its environs, who depended on the lake as a source of livelihood, have been adversely affected since it dried up in February.
Several months ago, Lake Kenyatta in Mpeketoni, Lamu West, was bustling with life, sustaining irrigation and fishing. The lake also supplied water for domestic use to more than 60,000 residents.
However, more than 6,000 irrigation farmers as well as fishermen in Mpeketoni and its environs, who depended on the lake as a source of livelihood, have been adversely affected since it dried up in February.
“We no longer go fishing since the lake was our only fishing ground. Since it dried up there is basically nothing for us to do,” said Mr Mahadhi Swaleh, a fisherman.
The demise of the lake has also fuelled human-wildlife conflict in Mpeketoni as wild animals invade homes in search for water. Lamu County Wildlife Conservation and Compensation Committee chairman Ali Shebwana said wild animals have killed at least 15 people and injured more than 50 between January and April.
“Most of the deaths and injury cases by wildlife come from Mpeketoni and this has greatly been contributed by the drying up of Lake Kenyatta. We need urgent interventions to address the problem,” he said.
The lake, named after Kenya’s first President Jomo Kenyatta, had been home to hippos, different bird species and other marine life.
Lake Kenyatta was the oldest and largest natural fresh water body in Lamu County.
However, due to the drought which started in mid-2016, the lake now dried up and smelly is a shell of its former glorious self.
Almost all the 3,000 hippos, thousands of birds and millions of marine organism including water snails, which thrived on the lake before the drought have long perished.
Simon Chege, a farmer, told the Business Daily efforts to draw water from a fresh water well — recently discovered near the lake — to the nearby farms for irrigation have not borne fruit.
“We are now worried that irrigation farming could become a thing of the past,” he said.
“Since the lake dried up in February, more than 60 per cent of the irrigation farmers here have quit.
“We pray that the rains come fast. We have tried digging boreholes around the lake so as to at least get our irrigation farming going but to no avail. Nothing seems to be working.”
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