FAO Mobilize Resources for Anticipatory Interventions and Long-term Resilient Building in 23 ASAL Counties of Kenya
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Ministry of Devolution and the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) held a resource mobilization meeting to mitigate effects of drought in 23 ASAL counties.
Kenya has faced a myriad of challenges in the recent past including two desert locust invasions, COVID19 pandemic and poor rains have resulted in food scarcity. This combination of negative phenomena have greatly affected the ASALs counties which were already dealing with multiple threats to their food security. These Counties are facing a precarious food insecurity situation which can easily escalate if immediate action is not taken. It is estimated that two million people are already in either the crisis or emergency drought phases.
The ASAL communities have been worst hit by the current drought situation because livestock is their bank from which they withdraw cash when they sell them. The Livestock markets are the super market for ASAL households’ needs.
The Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Devolution and ASALs and National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with FAO have strengthened early warnings and drought preparedness of this communities.
“While the Government has set up a Multi-Agency Team to coordinate response to the drought situation, it requires KES 8.7 Billion to mitigate the drought situation”, Hon. Eugene Wamalwa explained to development partners.
To mitigate this FAO signed an Anticipatory Action and Response Plan for Pastoral and Agropastoral Communities in Kenya in July this year. Through this the Kenyan Government and FAO committed to mobilize resources towards implementation of the anticipatory interventions and long-term resilient building plan. This plan covers a total of 23 ASAL counties.
In her remarks, the Country Representative to Kenya, Carla Mucavi, appealed to Development Partners to support FAO’s funding gap of USD 21 Million to address the current drought situation.
The ASAL situation since 2020
The year 2020 was marked by below average rains; by February 2020, 1.4 Million people in the ASAL Counties were already experiencing acute food insecurity. The long rains in March-May 2021 were also inadequate coupled with a late onset of the entire season. As at June 2021, 12 of the 23 ASAL counties were facing severe drought. The impact was water shortage, severe deficit of vegetation, and malnutrition in children, inadequate pasture resulting in poor livestock body conditions and low milk production further worsening the nutrition status.
The first group consists of ten counties which require urgent action and a high cost of intervention; these include Garissa, Isiolo, Kilifi, Kitui, Mandera, Marsabit, Samburu, Tana River, Turkana, and Wajir. The second group are counties which are facing moderate risk of severe drought but still require moderate to high cost of intervention; they include Baringo, Kajiado, Kwale, Laikipia, Lamu, Makueni, Meru, Taita Taveta, Tharaka Nithi, and West. The third group include counties of Embu, Narok, and Nyeri which are facing a low risk of severe drought.
Interventions and Resources needed for drought mitigation
The intervention will cover the following areas: -
- Livestock: provision of feed and supplements, livestock off-take and animal health services.
- Crops: provision of drought-resistant seeds; milling of staple commodities.
- Water: water trucking; rehabilitation and maintenance of water facilities; fuel subsidies for motorized boreholes; water storage tanks.
- Health and nutrition: hygiene and sanitation promotion; ready-to-use therapeutic and supplementary feeds; blanket supplementary feeding programme.
- Education: hygiene and sanitation promotion in learning institutions; food to subsidize school fees in boarding secondary schools.
- Peace and security: intra/inter-community dialogue and resource use agreements in conflict hotspots; coordination of peace and security activities.
- Coordination: county and sub-county steering groups’ coordination of drought response activities.
A budget of 87 million USD is required for the months of August to December 2021 as food and safety net support interventions in all the 23 ASAL Counties. Out of the total 87 million USD, FAO was seeking 21 Million USD as contribution towards these mitigation interventions.
For more information
Contact
Othieno Joseph
Communication Specialist,
FAO Kenya.
Email: [email protected]
@FAOKenya