Nairobi — At last it sinking in that the rains have failed for the fourth season running, and that Kenya is further from food self-sufficiency than ever before.But it has yet to sink in that this failure, rather than being the exception, is likely to become the trend of the future, one of the symptoms of the much-hyped but little understood climate change brought about by global warming.

On another level, the country has been deficient in grain and legumes since the post-election chaos of early last year, mainly because those who grew them in small-holder parcels were chased away, others lost all their stores through arson, and not much farming went on for the better part of the year.

But that is not all. Through greed and thoughtlessness, we have lost nearly all our forest cover leading to reduced precipitation, compromised most of our water towers, polluted our environment, and now we are paying the price.Right now, as reported in Monday's Nation, the forests surrounding Mt Marsabit have been destroyed over the years. The result is death -- of animals and human beings -- and displacement.

The wider ramification of this problem is that the country's economy cannot recover if agriculture, which accounts for 24 per cent of the country's GDP, grinds to a halt.In short, we are now living in a land where hunger and deprivation reign. What must be done?