Residents of Voi District area are staring famine in the face and imminent crop failure due to lack of sufficient rains.

According to a local farmer Mr Samuel Mwangura, the bumper harvest realized from the last short rains season had fired them to work even harder as they anticipated better precipitation with the onset of the long rains expected from March as the rains stopped abruptly mid April.

Save for good harvest of green grams and cow peas, the farmers’ fortunes started taking a turn for the worst.

He said the situation has been further compounded as the severe drought took its toll on the livestock. This was particularly felt with the oxen that are widely used for ploughing.

If the long rains had lasted, the farmers would have been guaranteed a good harvest. But this did not happen leading to the uncertain food security in the region. The unabated dry spell is turning into a nightmare for the residents, who are now resigned to the possibility of depending on famine relief.

In the lower parts of the district where livestock keeping is the main economic mainstay, drought virtually wiped out animals while those that survived were sold cheaply to by food.

The hardest hit area is Nkangara division, a goat and cow rearing zone, where pastoralists have lost most of their livestock to the drought.

This has in turn affected butcheries who have been forced to close their business for lack of animals to slaughter.