Nairobi — President William Ruto has flagged off 20,000 bags of rice, 20,000 bags of beans, assorted animal feed to areas facing severe drought.

This comes after the drought condition in the country has continued to deteriorate as several parts of the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) remained relatively dry and sunny with 20 out of the 23 arid and semi-arid counties affected.

The head of state flagged off the consignment to 23 counties most affected by famine and drought.

According to President Ruto, the second consignment of food aid would be sent to the affected counties on Friday.

They will also examine the situation on a weekly basis to determine what else needs to be done to end hunger.

"On a weekly basis we will assess the situation and see what this intervention will mean for the people around the country and what additionally can be done as we go into the future," he said.

"I have asked our development partners that we will have a meeting on Wednesday so that we can harmonize our approach and make sure that we avoid any duplication in any part of the country and so that we can leverage on the county teams that are assisting in identifying beneficiaries of this food."

The President added that, they will work with the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) for animal off take to counties where animals are too weak so as to enable citizens not to get stuck in terms of animal feeding.

"We are going to work with the Kenya Meat Commission to make sure that there is an offtake program that will facilitate citizens not to get stuck with livestock when they do not have pasture," he added.

As the Horn of Africa enters its sixth season of below average rainfall, Kenya is one of the three nations in the region experiencing the worst drought in decades.