Analysts "gravely concerned" over food security

An early end to seasonal long rains, had put crop harvests in parts of Kenya at risk and was of "grave concern" to food security analysts, the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS Net) reported.

"Hopes that the 2002 long-rains season would extend through June to compensate for the late onset were disappointed, yet a significant proportion of the crop is still at critical water-dependent development stages," FEWS Net, a USAID funded activity, reported in its Kenya Vulnerability Update for July.

Areas that had received "exceptionally poor" long rains (roughly from March to June) included all the southeastern coastal marginal agricultural districts, as well as the Kitui, Makueni and Machakos districts of Eastern Province, FEWS Net said.

The shortened rainy season had been especially detrimental to crop production prospects in the Rift valley, FEWS Net added. Farmers who had planted their crop at the start of the rainy season in April were expected to suffer "significant yield losses" due to the erratic rainfall pattern, it said.

A northward shift in rains associated with the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone, meant the equatorial area of the Greater Horn of Africa had experienced declining rainfall, FEWS Net reported earlier.

In many of Kenya's pastoral districts, which had suffered from five consecutive poor rainy seasons before now, "substantial improvement" had been seen in food security over the long rainy period, with availability of water, pasture and browse remaining favourable through June, FEWS Net said.

However, some pastoral areas were still cause for concern, including the southern parts of Tana River District, as well as Mandera and Moyale. "Poor rainfall in these districts has stalled the tentative recovery that began during [the short rains season of] October 2001," it said.
Food security analysts were also monitoring the agropastoral districts of West Pokot, southern Kajiado, Baringo, Koibatek and Marakwet, it added.

Due to shortages of food under the Emergency Operation (EMOP), the UN World Food Programme (WFP) had been unable to make any general food distributions for drought-affected populations since June, when some 12,250 mt of food were distributed across ten districts, WFP said.

However, the Food for Work component of the Kenya EMOP would distribute food to Baringo, Makueni, Samburu, Kajiado and Narok districts until 15 August, with some 4,860 mt of food being allocated to these districts, the UN food agency said in its latest emergency report on 12 July.