Kenyan Farmers Return With Minimal Governmental Aid

The Kenyan government is urging hundreds of thousands of farmers to return to their land—from which militias initially drove them. But now there are other worries; all their belongings are gone and the government has left them with only a few blankets, temporary armed escorts, and seeds—but no fertilizer, which has recently tripled in price. The global food crisis has resulted in a 30 percent increase in the cost of corn, and with the high cost of fertilizer, farmers are, on average, only able to use approximately half of the land. In total, at least a third of Kenya’s available farmland remains unused.

There is a conflicting concept in the idea of farmers returning—on the one hand, the community understands that the reconciliation process will take longer than expected, on the other, it is necessary to get these farmers back onto their farms in order to have food for the coming year. In addition, it is now late in the season to plant many of the popular crops, and even so, many have no homes to return to, as they were burned down by the militia and hostile neighbors. Furthermore, those returning with some government aid are being perceived as favored by the government, yet another reason for the attackers to incite more hostility. Despite returning to their homelands and familiar neighborhoods, many farmers are not being greeted as neighbors, but rather, as ethnic rivals.