Assessment confirms substantial food insecurity

An assessment of the food security situation in drought-affected areas of Kenya has confirmed that households in the coastal districts as well as in the east and southwest continue to face shortages, a report said on 5 March. The assessment, coordinated by the Kenya Food Security Steering Group, found substantial food insecurity resulting from consecutive years of poor rainfall, declining income options, depletion of livestock herds and increased staple prices. The findings were expected to form the basis of a national intervention and contingency plan to address the shortages, the monthly food security report issued by the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) said. It said preliminary findings from the consolidated national food security report, expected to be completed at the end of March, had shown that about 1 million persons in Turkana, Marsabit, West Pokot, Isiolo Narok, Kajiado, Baringo, Koibatek, Bomet, Kwale, Kilifi, Malindi, Taveta, Makueni, Machakos, Kitui, and parts of Nyeri districts might require food intervention. The final report, FEWS Net said, was likely to recommend that a significant proportion of the 1 million persons receive relief food through Food-for-Work programmes as opposed to direct relief. Turkana and Marsabit would require immediate relief assistance in the form of general relief, supplementary feeding and therapeutic feeding, it added. Other interventions recommended by the field teams, the report said, included de-silting and rehabilitation of water sources, resolution of the wildlife/human conflict, construction of water points in game parks, provision of certified seeds for 2004 long-rains planting, and the continuation and enhancement of the School Feeding Programme. In the coastal districts of Kilifi, Kwale, Taita Taveta and Malindi, it was found that the 2003/04 crop output fell short of normal production. In the households, little or no food stocks were found, yet market prices for food were well above average. These districts, which suffered exceptionally poor rains in 2002, received unseasonable rains in January. But these had little impact on crops, most of which had already wilted. In Samburu District and Kinangop division of Thika District, some 44.7 percent of children were found to be stunted, indicating chronic malnutrition, the report said. It added that in the eastern districts of Makueni and Kitui, only about half the normal short-rains maize output was expected. "Households in the worst-affected areas of Eastern Province are at particular risk of increased food insecurity since the next significant harvest is not anticipated until February 2005," it said. According to the report, the largely agro-pastoral districts of Bomet, Kajiado and Narok in Rift Valley Province, have experienced successive poor seasons since 1997, resulting in substantial livestock losses. "[It was] found that herders in Narok were still trekking up to 15 kilometres in search of water, pasture and browse. In addition, an unusual 75 percent of the livestock had migrated to the hill masses," the report said.