Miraa (khat) farmers must wake up to the reality that their produce won’t be allowed to continue destroying lives and families for much longer.
The banning of the mildly narcotic weed in Britain is the latest setback for farmers and traders mainly from Meru, and more recently Embu, who have for years benefitted from a product that has wreaked havoc in families where its use is rampant.
There are also instances where rampant chewing of miraa, ostensibly, to ward of sleep among long-distance lorry and bus drivers, has been blamed for causing road accidents.
This is why reports that the Governor of Meru County will lead a delegation to Nairobi to present a petition on the impending ban on miraa in the United Kingdom may not be the best option because although it might score some political points for the local leaders it will have little effect in London.
That means the farmers will have lost time and money which they could have used to do something else.
Untold story
For example, the farmers could take the opportunity presented by the ban to grow other cash crops. They might find, to their dismay, that horticultural crops would fetch them better prices than they are getting from miraa.
The untold story is that although miraa attracts huge profits, most of it is creamed off by transporters and middle-men, leaving local growers to pick up the crumbs. That means growing miraa only seems attractive because the farmers haven’t been exposed to the benefits of other cash crops.
What is more, the new crops would not disrupt their children’s learning as the growing and trade in miraa does. There is reason to believe that the rate of crime caused by a general lawlessness among the different ethnic groups competing for miraa would also go down significantly.
Last, but by no means least, safety on roads leading from the miraa growing areas to Nairobi would definitely improve and many lives and property would be saved because drivers transporting khat are a byword for reckless driving.
