Little let-up for drought-affected pastoral areas

Unusual but beneficial rain in mid-January marked the end of the 2001-02 short rains in Kenya. Although it was unevenly distributed, it provided substantial relief to pastoral and farm households in some of the most drought-affected parts of the country, according to the latest vulnerability update from the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net). Generous rainfall in recent days has been mostly confined to the Nairobi area and to the south and east of the capital, as well as around Voi and a few localised areas further east towards the coast, but it was not very well distributed and has had little impact in the central highlands, according to the Kenya Meteorological Department. Very light rains had dusted Marsabit and Garissa with little real effect, but there was little rainfall in general in the drought-affected northern areas, and little expected, it said. The department was "hesitant" to say the recent rainfall marked the onset of the long rains, an official told IRIN. "It's still too early to say," he said, adding that they may just be light rains which could merge later with the rainy season proper, as sometimes happened. Despite a reasonably good season, several areas of the country received significantly below-normal rainfall during the short rains, including most of the pastoral districts of Turkana, Mandera, parts of Isiolo, Marsabit, Kajiado and Wajir, according to the USAID- and WFP-supported FEWS Net. Poor short rains were also experienced in the marginal agricultural districts of Coast Province and, unexpectedly, in the high potential areas of Central Province away from Mt Kenya. For those pastoral areas with fair short rains, and especially those replenished by the unexpected mid-January rainfall, surface water and pasture were replenished, and livestock health improved, according to FEWS Net. However, with the poor distribution of the short rains in terms of time and place, other pastoral areas faced pressure on pasture, browse and water resources, it said. Pastoralists anticipated that a good 2002 long-rains season (typically March/April-May) could stabilise livestock production and food-security options, it added. In Kenya's arid and semiarid lands, drought-related malnutrition levels had generally stabilised - after reaching two to three times normal levels in mid-2000 - but remained worryingly high in some districts, and in pockets of some districts, Save the Children Fund (SCF) reported on Tuesday. For instance, global malnutrition among children under five years of age in Wajir District was still estimated to be around 15 percent, health facilities were struggling to cope with needs, many boreholes were damaged or broken down, and people's coping mechanisms were significantly depleted, it said. Amid a mixed trend in livestock prices, unusually low prices in Garissa and Moyale districts were being attributed to a combination of an increased supply of animals from neighbouring Somalia and poor animal health, FEWS Net reported. Increased prices in Turkana District, northwestern Kenya, were linked to a reduced supply of animals in the market, it said. The welfare status of most pastoralists - as measured in child malnutrition rates - had improved in several pastoral districts, mostly due to well-targeted and effective interventions. However, food interventions needed to be accompanied by complementary initiatives, such as access to adequate clean and safe water, and health and sanitation services, in order to ensure improved nutritional status in the long run, the report stated. That view was complemented by SCF, which noted that the combination of malnutrition and unhygienic practices (in a context of low access to safe water and sanitation services) had triggered a large-scale outbreak of communicable diseases in 2001. Late last year in Wajir, 400 people were affected by a cholera outbreak which claimed 50 lives, it said, adding that only about one-third of people in the district had access to safe drinking water. Meanwhile, livestock raiding and ethnic conflict have continued to undermine pastoralist gains in several areas (particularly in southern, eastern and northern parts of Turkana, southeastern Tana River and northern parts of Moyale districts), according to FEWS Net. "Although District Steering Committees have made concerted efforts to resolve conflicts, the prevalence of conflicts has only increased, suggesting that conflict resolution and mitigation strategies need to be rethought and made more effective", it added.