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A woman from Ndula village in Thika East, Kiambu County is now seeking millions of shillings in compensation from Del Monte Kenya Ltd over massive destruction of her land and property by storm and irrigation water springing from the company’s farm.

Magda Ngumi (pictured) who has been living on her 15-acre land inside the company’s expansive pineapple plantation for over 30 years is counting losses after runoff water from the farm destroyed her plantations and other property.

Ngumi also accuses the food processing company of relentlessly and unethically allowing water overflows from its farm to break to her homestead destroying her expensive furniture and weakening her palatial house.

According to her, excess water and mud has been flooding her house over the past few years resulting in massive destruction of property.

Environmental action

Instead of soaking into the soil, the storm water, she said, has been collecting and moving down-slope causing erosion and forming gullies resulting in loss of nutrients.

This, she lamented, has made her land less productive for agriculture besides altering how water flows through the landscape

Since the situation worsened in 2020, Ngumi says she has been reporting the matter to the company requesting for environmental action in futility.

The company, she regretted, has been sending its staff to conduct assessment on severity of property destruction but no action has ever been taken since she started complaining.

A tour by journalists at the homestead revealed that her house, including table room and bedrooms have been heavily flooded with mud having occupied and dirtied most of her furniture.

Installed tiles inside the table room are becoming loose with fears growing that the multi-million house could collapse unless prompt interventions are made.

Speaking to journalists at the affected home, Ngumi lamented that it could take years to cure her land and restore the strength of her house.

Efforts to reach the company for a comment were futile as they failed to respond to our emails despite journalists having given them close to a week to respond.