Brace for drier, tougher months ahead, Red Cross warns
By Wycliffe Kipsang, February 14, 2023
The Kenya Red Cross has warned that the severe drought in many parts of the country will worsen in the next two months, with people who are food insecure in 22 counties now estimated to be 4.3 million.
According to its latest assessment of the food situation in the country, the Red Cross has named Kilifi, Mandera, Wajir, Samburu, Kajiado, Marsabit, Isiolo, Turkana and Kitui as the worst hit.
Red Cross officer in charge of Disaster Management Michael Aiyabei (pictured) yesterday said another 13 counties are in alert stage and will soon transit to emergency stage if rains don’t fall soon.
“In total, 22 counties are food insecure which has been occasioned by erratic rainfall patterns. The short rains witnessed between September and December last year was not enough to sustain any form of farming,” Aiyabei said in an interview.
The humanitarian organisation projects that the long rains expected in March will not be adequate for farming and warned Kenyans to brace for even tough times ahead.
Aiyabei said through partnership with individuals and other humanitarian organisations, the Red Cross had managed to supply 1.8 million people with relief food.
According to the official, the affected people have also benefited from a cash transfer programme from the government where each household receives Sh5,000 monthly to purchase food, noting that this had reduced costs of transporting the food. Some 43,000 households have benefitted from the programme.
It also emerged that the persistent drought was contributing to rampant cases of school dropouts and increase in cases of malnutrition among pupils.
Aiyabei said the government through the Kenya Meat Commission had bought emaciated livestock from herders to avert losses.
He said that in the first phase of the programme, which kicked off last year, 26,000 livestock were bought while another 6,000 was bought in the second phase.
“The livestock are also slaughtered and the meat distributed to the locals as food,” said Aiyabei.
In the North Rift, West Pokot, Baringo and Turkana counties are the worst hit by the drought which is also contributing to rampant cases of insecurity as herders scramble for resources.
More than 120,000 people in Turkana County and another 85,000 in West Pokot county are in dire need of relief food aid, according to data from the Red Cross.