WFP to spend 60 mln USD to feed food-inscure Kenyans in 2016
Xinhua, September 2, 2016 Adjust font size:
The UN humanitarian agency said on Friday it plans to spend 60 million U.S. dollars in 2016 in order to feed food-insecure people in Kenya.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) Senior Deputy Country Director Thomas Hansson told Xinhua in Nairobi that there are currently 800,000 people, mostly in the arid and semi-arid areas, who are food insecure.
"We will provide food and cash assistance for vulnerable households so that they can create assets that will enable them to overcome drought conditions," said Hansson on the sidelines of the launch of the single registry for Kenya's Cash Transfer Program.
Most of Kenya's agriculturists and pastoralists depend on rainfall for crops harvests as well as fodder for their livestock. As a result, when the rain falls, it leads to poor harvests, and in some cases, famine if no interventions are undertaken.
WFP helps communities build productive assets such as irrigation and fish ponds in order to build their resilience in a long run.
"Our aim is for vulnerable communities to be able to conduct their economic activities even during prolonged periods of drought," Hansson said.
Kenya's last major drought occurred in 2011, when several million people were rendered food insecure. Endit