Unreliable weather creating mental health issues for Kenyan farmers

Amid a looming super El Nino and climate change, global weather patterns have not been reliable this year.

And this is true in Kenya too, where doctors say farmers are increasingly dealing with emotional stress and facing mental health issues.

After three decades on her coffee farm in Nyeri, Josephine Kihu says prolonged periods of sunshine has forced her to switch to a more resilient variety of bean.

"Before we never used to water our seedlings because the rain was good and it was enough but as from today,” she says.

“Let's see now you can see it's raining. Is it really raining? This is drizzling. It cannot help the tree. So it forces us to employ someone to water the coffee tree."

"Can you imagine how much money, you have invested here? I have invested a lot and finally I don't harvest anything, I might die. As a farmer, you could go insane," she says.

The financial consequences of these changes weigh heavily on farmers, who invest in their crops without certainty of a return.

Kihu believes this unpredictable weather has affected farmers’ mental wellbeing, although some may not recognise the source of their distress.

At Kiawara, farmer Charles Ndung’u has kept livestock for more than two decades.

He says goat farming was traditionally a reliable source of income despite the area’s semi-arid conditions.

But now earlier rainfall experienced in March hasn't provided enough pasture to sustain the animals through the prolonged dry spell.

The shortage was compounded by a livestock disease outbreak in June, after which Ndung’u began recording significant losses.

From July, the situation worsened, with some goats becoming too weak to stand. He says he lost 40 goats in three months.

But now early rainfall could wash away the little dry feed his goats have been surviving on, while fresh pasture will take time to grow.

“The seeds are in the ground and we are not sure if they will sprout. We are waiting to see if the rains continue. If they don't grow, that's more stress. We don't have money," he says.

“We depend on the goats for our children's school fees. You would sell one or two and send children to school. Without the goats and money, we have many problems.".

Kahindo Gacago, a clinical psychologist at Outspan Hospital in Nyeri, says climate-related challenges are contributing to mental-health concerns among farmers.

“The cumulative losses and also the chronic stress that comes with always having to plan to know what to do at this time or when,” he says.

“Especially when you feel like you've lost control, because something like the weather it's not something in your control.”

He says he believes about a third of his patients are farmers facing mental health issues linked to repeated agricultural losses.

Changing climatic conditions can contribute to a loss of identity when farmers are forced to abandon familiar practices, adopt different lifestyles, or relocate in search of more promising conditions, he says.

Gacago says it can also lead some farmers to turn to alcohol or other substances as a way of coping.

He is urging policymakers to incorporate mental wellbeing into farmer support programmes, to promote climate-smart agriculture, and improve access to irrigation.