Kenya is experiencing a severe drought following the near-absent rains of spring. Agriculture is on its knees and in 23 regions of the country eating regularly has become a luxury. Kenya is experiencing a severe drought following the near-absent rains of spring. Agriculture is on its knees and in 23 regions of the country eating regularly has become a luxury.
Over two million people in Kenya are going hungry due to the drought affecting the north-east of the country. Rainfall over recent months has been sporadic, forecasts for autumn suggest this trend will continue, and the agricultural sector, already on its knees, will carry on declining. Those suffering today include both rural farmers, with very poor harvests, and urban consumers, with food prices on the rise. A difficult economic and social situation, compounded by the severe consequences of Covid-19 and the damage already caused earlier in the year by the locust invasion.
According to the National Drought Management Authority (Ndma), there are 23 regions of Kenya where the population will find itself in urgent need of food assistance within the next six months. The cause lies in the severe drought that affected the country in spring, with rainfall below 25 per cent of the period's average. And forecasts for the new rainy season, running from October to December, offer little reassurance.
Agricultural production is in enormous difficulty, with maize output potentially falling by 50 per cent and that of other vegetables such as tomatoes set to be decimated. Water scarcity is significantly reducing the area under cultivation; in other cases harvests are far below average due to irrigation problems. In the coastal areas of Tana River, several schools have been closed due to the absence of water and the resulting failure of the sewage system.
This situation is no small problem in a country where agriculture accounts for around 33 per cent of GDP and which was already struggling in its rural areas. The pandemic and the restrictions it brought with it over recent months have limited the movement of the workforce from cities to fields, with the result that vast tracts of land have been left uncultivated due to a lack of labour. Over the past year, Kenya has also had to contend with the destruction wrought by locusts, which have devastated crops and brought thousands of families to their knees. Another problem concerns conflict, with communities continuing to fight one another for access to land and the scarce resources available, with serious consequences for the local economy.
Kenya's president, Uhuru Kenyatta, has declared that the drought currently affecting the country is a "national disaster". Local producers have seen their incomes plummet, while the rest of the population is suffering from soaring food prices as a result of reduced supply. For many, eating is becoming a luxury; dozens of people have been poisoned in the most arid areas after consuming poisonous roots and plants due to their inability to access food.
The Ministry of Agriculture is rolling up its sleeves to build new infrastructure that can offer farmers and livestock herders across the country some breathing room. So far, four projects have been approved in the counties of Embu, Tana River, Machakos and Makueni to tackle the drought through irrigation and fodder production. The economic multiplier effect could be significant, but to get everything off the ground an initial investment of 132 million dollars is needed, and donors are currently being sought. More broadly, the Fao has stated that Kenya would need over 85 billion euros to address the effects of the drought on its population.
