Gov't to buy all local maize for drought relief

The Kenyan government has said it will buy all stocks of maize produced by local farmers in a bid to cope with a worsening food crisis that has hit the country following prolonged drought. "The cabinet directed that all available maize in the country be purchased to meet the challenges ahead in the coming months," the president’s office said in a statement on Friday. An estimated 2.5 million Kenyans - close to 10 percent of the population - are facing severe food shortages, according to the government and aid agencies. President Mwai Kibaki has declared a state of national disaster in areas of the country affected by the food crisis, and has appealed for US $153 million to mitigate the situation. The worst affected districts include Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Tana River, Isiolo, Marsabit and Moyale in Kenya's northeastern and northern regions. International charity Action Against Hunger has reported that the number of children admitted to its emergency feeding centres in Mandera during the first three weeks of December 2005, was 29 percent higher than during November. "The situation in Mandera has really gone from bad to disastrous," Kelly Delaney, a nutritionist with the NGO, said in a statement on Friday. Poor rainfall in northern and eastern Kenya three rainy seasons in a row, has worsened food shortages. "This population depends on cattle for food, transportation, and economic viability," said the NGO's emergency coordinator, Roger Persichino. "Cattle dying now means that children will die months from now, and families will be left with no economic viability or way to feed themselves." The Kenyan cabinet has also instructed the finance ministry to immediately release money to fund food distribution and other relief services.