Pastoralists face post-drought hardship

The livestock forage and water situation was continuing to deteriorate in most areas of Kenya targeted in the WFP’s post-drought emergency operation, but particularly in Isiolo, Mandera, Wajir, Turkana and Garissa districts, due to an inadequate long-rains season [from March to May], the agency reported in its weekly emergency update on Friday, 31 August. The Arid Lands and Resource Management Project (ALRMP) reported that most pastoralists in these regions continued to face increasing hardships and that their food security was likely to continue to deteriorate before the next rainfall season; some pastoralists had sold their livestock and were almost exclusively dependent on relief food, it said.

Livestock raids were reported to have escalated, as competition for grazing resources increased, WFP reported. Border tensions along internal and external boundaries appeared to be on the rise, and disputes had resulted in delayed food distribution, in particular in the town of Moyale, northwestern Kenya, it said.

Children’s health among pastoralists and agro-pastoralists in Turkana District, northwestern Kenya, remained “very fragile,” UNICEF warned on Tuesday in an emergency update. The expected harvest in the agro-pastoral zone was predicted to be only 60 percent to 70 percent of a normal year, livestock production was unlikely to improve significantly and, although many of the cattle taken out of the district to graze on better pasture had now returned, they were still too weak to produce milk, the report said.