Kenya seeks 114 mln USD to mitigate severe drought

The Kenyan government said Sunday it requires 114 million U.S. dollars to counter severe drought that has hit the country as the number of food insecure people rose to 3 million in February from 1.3 million in August 2016.

State House spokesperson Manoah Esipisu said the state has secured 73 million dollars of which it has spent 54 million dollars in phase one of its responses.

"Towards this the government has allocated 73 million dollars already and that leaves a gap of 114 million dollars, which the government is also mobilizing," Esipisu told journalists in Nairobi.

He said the government had allocated 54 million dollars in the first stage of drought mitigation interventions the period covered November 2016-January 2017.

"For the second phase, which covers the period which we are in February-April, an additional 116 million dollars is required and for Phase Three between April-August another 71 million dollars will be required.

Kenya is experiencing severe drought due to depressed rainfall which has led to crop failure and extreme livestock, water and vegetation deficit.

Esipisu said the drought, mostly affecting three million people in 23 counties, has caused a 10-20 per cent increase in food prices.

According to Esipisu, 300, 000 of these people are in non-Arid and Semi-Arid areas and this represents about 20 per cent of the population in pastoral areas and 18 per cent in marginal agricultural areas.

He said the worst affected are the most vulnerable, usually the elderly, sick, children under five and mothers.

The east African nation declared drought a national disaster two weeks, inviting international community to help in addressing the situation.

Kenya convened a meeting with international partners last week as part of enhanced efforts to mobilize these additional resources to focus on mitigating the effects of drought and we can already report a tremendous positive response to this.

"Fifty per cent of the mitigation is through cash transfers so that the recipients decide what to buy. In other areas, we send food rations," Esipisu said, noting that this year's drought has been managed well compared to 2011.

As a result of this vegetation deficit, he said, livestock prices are falling as body condition declines, noting that goat prices in December 2016 were up to 25 per cent below their five-year averages.

"So livestock is being affected in these communities where drought is ravaging," he said, adding that food prices across the country are showing an atypical increase due to below-average production in 2016.

"Current prices are 10-25 per cent above their five-year averages and will probably rise further," Esipisu said.

He said nutrition situation is extremely critical with acute malnutrition levels of above 30 per cent in northern areas especially in Turkana County.

"This means we had learned lessons and built resilience," he said, adding that the government is in talks with Ethiopia over receding Lake Turkana waters where construction of Gibe dam on the Nile River is said to be the cause of the lake's dropping water level. Endit