BY TONY WAFULA
It is a sigh of relief for farmers in Bungoma County after receiving Sh1.8 million from Apollo Agriculture organization to cater for the losses. They say that during the season farmers got losses that resulted from climate change.
Speaking to the press on Tuesday at Bungoma Red Cross branch during the handing over of Sh1.8m cheque, Dinah Makokha, the county’s Agriculture and Irrigation Chief Officer lauded Apollo Agriculture for compensating farmers.
“This is a great milestone, this year farmers got huge losses resulting from harsh climate change,” the Chief Officer said.
Further, Ms. Makokha underscored the need for Bungoma County to partner with Insurance entities so that farmers can be compensated after losses.
“In future we have plans to partner with insurance companies so that we can manage farmers’ losses,” she said.
Clinton Nyaga, Western region’s Apollo Agriculture sales manager, said that over 600 farmers drawn from Bungoma will receive the compensation.
“We have partnered with APA Insurance where we have enrolled all our farmers so that when they get losses they can be insured,” he said. He attributed the losses to floods and leaching.
A report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations indicates that agrifood systems are facing an escalating threat from climate change induced loss and damage, and actions including increasing financing must be taken to address their vulnerabilities.
The report came after world leaders at COP28 reached a breakthrough deal to operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund, agreed to be established last year at COP27. Several countries have already pledged money to the fund totaling some $300 million.
The FAO report, including an in-depth analysis of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), reveals that about one-third (or 35 percent) of current climate action plans explicitly refer to loss and damage, highlighting the growing relevance of the issue on the global stage, with agriculture being identified as the single most impacted area.
The study underscores the critical need for targeted efforts to address vulnerabilities in agrifood systems, recognizing their pivotal role in livelihoods and sustainable development.
In 2020, the agrifood sector employed over 866 million people globally and represented a turnover of $3.6 trillion.
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