Tales of suffering abound as prolonged drought continues

But this has further worsened his problems. No one wants to purchase cattle on the verge of death. And like Mr Lesingo, many pastoralists facing the same predicament have brought their emaciated livestock for sale. Unfortunately, very few people are interested.

A cow that normally goes for Sh30,000 is currently being sold at as low as Sh300. And even with this low price, the businessmen still don’t attract buyers.

The pastoralist says that despite their predicaments, neither the government nor relief organisations had come to their aid, forcing several of the pastoralist communities to flee to the neighbouring Tanzania in search of pasture for their animals and food for their families.

They are now appealing to the government to come to their aid, failure of which many will continue suffering from famine.

The weatherman has already sounded a warning that the long rains are bound to delay in some area, further spelling doom for the residents.

In its latest weather outlook for the month of April, Mr Peter Ambenje, an official from the Meteorological department says pasture for livestock will continue to diminish in the pastoral areas due to the expected poor rainfall performance.

And he advises the pastoralists to destock and only remain with “strategic stock”.

Further he urges the government to rehabilitate watering points to avoid conflicts and civil insecurity that is likely to emanate from water scarcity.

Says Mr Ambenje: “In these areas, there have been a few cases of animals dying following the prolonged dry spell and poor and limited pasture conditions.”

He adds: “Some perennial rivers have even dried up due to the huge rainfall deficits for consecutive seasons.