Kenya: 32 Drought-Stricken Counties Need Food, Livestock Interventions - DP Kindiki

Millions of people face multiple overlapping challenges, including drought, flooding, and disease outbreaks.

Nairobi — Thirty-two counties are in urgent need of human and livestock food interventions following the poor performance of the October to December short rains, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has said.

Prof. Kindiki said an estimated 2.1 million people are facing food and nutritional stress, prompting coordinated action between the national and county governments to protect vulnerable households and livestock.

"The October to December short rains have underperformed, exposing an estimated 2.1 million people across 32 counties to food and nutritional insufficiency," Kindiki said.

He noted that assessments by the Kenya Meteorological Department indicate the affected counties will require sustained human and livestock food, nutritional and health interventions over the next six months, until harvests from the March to May long rains are nearly ready.

The Deputy President was speaking after chairing a high-level consultative meeting at Harambee House Annex on Monday, attended by Cabinet and Principal Secretaries, heads of relevant ministries, departments and agencies, as well as representatives of the Council of Governors.

"We discussed the extent and cost of the interventions required to provide human and livestock food and non-food support to mitigate the effects of the prevailing drought situation," he said.

Prof. Kindiki added that a follow-up meeting bringing together development partners, humanitarian organisations and private sector players will be held on Tuesday, after which the government will unveil a comprehensive drought mitigation roadmap.

A Cabinet dispatch issued on Monday also outlined long-term measures to strengthen food security, including large-scale investment in modern irrigation.

"The government will undertake large-scale modern irrigation, constructing 50 mega dams, 200 mini-dams and more than 1,000 micro-dams, bringing an additional 2.5 million acres into production," the dispatch said.

The investments are expected to reinforce food and water security, support agro-industrialisation and improve rural livelihoods.

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