The food crisis in Kenya’s arid counties could escalate amid suppressed October to December 2022 rainy season that led to crop failure, and drying of pasture and water sources, a senior official said Wednesday.
Rebecca Miano, the cabinet secretary in the Ministry of East African Community, Arid and Semi-Arid Lands and Regional Development, said that the latest projections indicate that hunger, malnutrition and water stress are likely to escalate countrywide this dry season.
‘The drought situation remains critical in 22 out of the 23 arid and semi-arid counties following poor rains through October to December when the short rains season usually appears,’ Miano told journalists in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.
Drought-related livestock mortalities had spiked in the arid lands, worsening hunger, malnutrition and income losses for herders, noted Miano, warning that delayed and poor rainfall distribution coupled with fall armyworm infestation have worsened food insecurity and childhood malnutrition in the country’s arid northern outposts.
Miano said the national government had partnered with devolved units, relief agencies and the private sector to scale up a humanitarian intervention for the 4.35 million people affected by drought.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
