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At least 2.4 million people in Kenya are at risk of going hungry by November as drought ravages the north and east of the country, almost three times more than last year, the Program warned on Friday. global food.
The East African country has been hit by a build-up of calamities in recent years, including a locust invasion lasting several months from December 2019 and low rainfall in 2020 and 2021, which left the northern regions arid. and the east facing an emergency.
President Uhuru Kenyatta declared the drought a natural disaster last month, with 2.1 million people already experiencing hunger, according to the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA).
WFP’s alarming projection is nearly three times the figure recorded last year between October and December, when 852,000 people faced severe food insecurity, the UN agency said.
“This drought comes just after the Covid-19 which had a huge economic impact on livelihoods. It comes because of locusts and, in some areas, floods,” the WFP representative told AFP and Country Director, Lauren Landis.
“We are desperately worried that the next short (rainy) season to come in October will also fail and that means then we are going to find ourselves in an extremely serious situation,” she said.
“I fear we will reach the level of 2017, our last big drought here in Kenya. I think we envision 2.5 million people in the coming months who will be affected.”
East Africa experienced an excruciating drought in 2017, which also brought neighboring Somalia to the brink of famine.
Experts say extreme weather events are occurring with increased frequency and intensity due to climate change.
Malnourished children
Drought in Kenya has already devastated vulnerable populations, WFP said, with more than 465,200 children under five and more than 93,300 pregnant and breastfeeding women suffering from acute malnutrition.
The Kenyan government announced earlier this month that it had allocated two billion shillings ($ 18 million, € 15.5 million) to support an emergency response, with a focus on providing drinking water for residents of Kenya’s 23 most affected counties.
“Experts tell us there are signs that we may not have good rains, so we are preparing for the long term,” said Eugene Wamalwa, the minister responsible for decentralization.
The Governing Council, which brings together the leaders of the country’s 47 counties, said it has set aside 1.34 billion shillings to fund emergency operations.
The authorities also sent 14 trucks of food for livestock, the main source of income in the affected areas.
Food and water shortages have severely affected the ability to cultivate and raise livestock, increasing the risk of conflict as people compete for access to land and essential supplies.
Human-animal conflict
As conditions deteriorated, several cases of violence were reported as pastoralists clashed for access to increasingly scarce water points.
Human-animal conflicts have also increased. In mid-August, two elephants escaped from a reserve and entered the town of Isiolo in central Kenya, where they injured a man trying to chase them away.
According to the Kenya Wildlife Service, the elephants have left the reserve in search of water and food.
“Drought brings conflict over resources. Everyone is looking for water, everyone is looking for food for livestock, farmers are always trying to grow crops, all doing so with limited resources,” he said. said Landis.
“We have already seen (violence) in many places in Kenya and I feel it will only get worse.”
WFP has appealed for $ 139 million (€ 120 million) in new funds to address the humanitarian crisis, with only $ 28 million raised to date.
“It’s just to allow us to move on to the next rainy season. If this rainy season fails, the needs will be even greater,” Landis warned.
“We have really reached the breaking point.”
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