Perilous
Times and Climate Change
Kenya drought to create 5 million in need of food
� OCHA/afrol News\
afrol News, 19 January - Already, 1.6 million Kenyans are
receiving food aid to compensate for drought and poor harvests.
Government however warns the number could skyrocket to 5 million
within a few months, as rains have kept failing.
According to UN humanitarian sources, the La Nina climate
phenomenon has also caused the October to December rains in Kenya
to fall short, in particular in the already arid and semi-arid
north-eastern part of the country. This was "currently interfering
with livestock and agricultural production in most parts of the
country."
Livestock deaths, acute food shortage and increased migration by
pastoralist communities due to depletion of pasture and water for
livestock have been reported. At least five persons have
reportedly died from hunger this year.
The prolonged dry spell was also leading to increases in food
prices, which were further compromising the food security for
vulnerable populations in Kenya. Some areas, especially along the
Somali border, even experienced acute water shortages.
The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) is already strongly present in
these arid parts of Kenya, which still cope with the aftermaths of
the 2008 drought. Originally, the WFP had planned to downscale its
operations in Kenya in February, but as new reports of drought and
food shortages reach the UN agency, these plans have been
scrapped.
The WFP currently provides food aid to 1.6 million Kenyans, mostly
in the same areas hit by the current drought. UN humanitarian
agencies yet have to make a full-fledged analysis of the current
food security situation, but the WFP indicates it is now most
likely it will "adjust operations upwards" following the ongoing
assessment.
The UN agency warns it will likely face a funding shortfall in
April. The Kenyan Red Cross, on the other hand, already has
launched an emergency appeal, seeking to raise US$ 19 million for
drought stricken Kenyans.
Kenyan government sources hold that the situation is graver than
the UN currently presumes. Minister Esther Murugi, responsible of
government food relief programmes, today told the Nairobi
parliament that the number of Kenyans requiring relief food will
increase to five million in the next three months.
In addition to the urgent need for more food aid, Minister Murugi
emphasised on the emergent lack of water in several parts of the
country. Not only did livestock and cultivators lack water.
Several drinking water magazines were becoming empty, in
particular in the crisis-struck Turkana district, she warned.
Minister Murugi however did not believe there was any reason to
declare a national disaster over the ongoing drought.