By Bisola Adeyemo
As part of effort to alleviate the suffering of people affected by drought in Kenya, the government has rolled out intervention measures that include physical food distribution, and water trucking to cater to livestock and domestic uses.
Cyrus Oguna, the government spokesperson, said in a statement on Tuesday that the ongoing drought mitigation measures targets about 2.8 million citizens in 23 arid and semi-arid counties who have borne the brunt of crop failure and livelihoods disruption due to failed rains.
According to Oguna, that 14 counties are in a critical situation due to the prolonged dry spell while nine counties are moderately affected by the phenomenon.
He lamented that Kenya has been in the grip of a climate change-induced drought since late 2020 that has escalated hunger, malnutrition, water stress, and resource-based skirmishes in the country’s vast arid lands.
So far, 225,705 households in the counties affected by drought have benefitted from emergency cash transfers initiated by the government in December 2021, with each family receiving 3,000 shillings (about 26 U.S. dollars) monthly stipend to purchase food, said Oguna.
He revealed that 63,100 bags of rice weighing 50 kg each have been supplied to food-insecure households in addition to 800 cartons of corned beef and 62,000 bags of beans weighing 50 kg each.
Oguna said the government had allocated 3.9 million dollars to purchase livestock on the brink of starvation even as implementation of long-term interventions to boost the resilience of communities affected by drought gathers steam.
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