3.5 million people in urgent need of relief food as drought worsens

More than 3.5 million Kenyans will require relief food until September, the government and experts say.

It is in September when harvests are expected from Kenya’s bread baskets of Rift Valley and Western regions.

Failure of the long rains has severely affected food production in the country.

The most affected are communities in arid and semi-arid regions where malnutrition levels have risen to more than 20 per cent, way above the global acute malnutrition cutline index of 15 per cent.

The expected number of cases to be handled for acute malnourished children under five years is 20,252, while those moderately malnourished are 106,502.

In addition, about 49,758 pregnant and lactating women are moderately malnourished.

Assessments by the Kenya Food Security Steering Group indicate that the long rains have failed in most of the arid and semi-arid districts and the drought situation has worsened since January.

Drought emergency

It is expected that some districts will be in drought emergency by early July, a statement from Arid Lands Resource Management Project II communications officer Abiya Abiya said.

It is estimated that the number of the most affected by drought has increased from 2.4 million in January to 3.5 million.

Health facilities have admitted 78 per cent of children affected by severe malnutrition. This is a result of famine compounded by crop and livestock losses, resource-based conflicts and high food and fuel prices.

A mid-season food security assessment undertaken by the government and development partners revealed most areas received 50-70 per cent below normal rains while temporal distribution was poor with long dry spells of up to three weeks after the start of rains.

However, the long rains have been favourable in Western, Nyanza and Rift Valley highlands. According to the Kenya Food Security Meeting, about 1.2 million hectares have been put under cultivation.

This is below the projected 1.9 million hectares because of the shrunken rainfall. Sixty three per cent of the land under cultivation is under maize while beans account for 26 per cent.

Livestock mortality has reached 10-15 per cent and is increasing in Garissa and Wajir. The situation is expected to deteriorate rapidly from July as pasture conditions worsen.

Due to the poor rains, major water sources have not been recharged. With temporal water sources at 30-60 per cent capacity, the water is expected to last one to two months from May.

National maize stocks as at April 30 were 16.9 million bags. Strategic Grain Reserve stocks have 2.5 million bags.

Maize balance sheet indicates that there will be 5.3 million bags at end of July. This will be adequate for one and a half months beginning August when early harvest from South Rift is expected.