Tufi locals say gardens, water sources drying up

By LUKE KAMA
THE long dry weather is hitting Tufi in Ijivirari, Northern, with food gardens and water sources already affected, locals say.
Bobby Vevera and Benny Kegena from Tufi station told The National that they had been experiencing almost three months of dry weather.
“If we have more than two months of dry weather our garden food such as banana and taro will dry up and turn brown,” he said.
“They cannot withstand the dry weather like in other parts of the country simply because Tufi is sitting on top of rocks with little layer of soil.” Ward nine councillor Paul Gadebo said the dry weather was causing them problems.
“We need assistance because our food and water sources are running dry. We are experiencing very hot temperatures here,” he said.
He said because Tufi and some of the island communities were so remote, people did not have money to buy food.
“So we needed assistance from our district, provincial and national government,” he said.
He said Governor Gary Juffa visited Tufi last week and assured them that a team from the provincial government was going to look into the problem.