Taita Taveta residents stare at starvation as December rains fail
Voi Deputy County Commissioner Daniel Nduti distributes food relief to Voi Point Limited workers at the company's offices in Taita Taveta on November 24, 2022.
The government will continue to support vulnerable families in Taita Taveta County to cushion them from hunger.
National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) indicates that over 150,000 residents are currently facing food insecurity and projects figures to increase due to the failed rainy season.
NDMA coordinator Gabriel Mbogho said interventions by various stakeholders to cushion residents, including food aid and cash for food monthly payments, given to vulnerable families in the county are still ongoing.
Due to the failure of the November/December rains, some crops have started wilting, dashing the hopes of farmers who were expecting to harvest during this season.
Taita Taveta residents are now facing a threat of starvation owing to four failed rainy seasons.
In agricultural areas, harvests are expected to be below average, causing a prolonged dependency on markets.
Some areas in Taveta and Wundanyi, which for a long time enjoyed surplus food production and high yields, have seen crops drying up, harvests dwindling and hunger growing.
In the last two years, the county had experienced a devastating hunger that drove the sharp increases in food, water and nutrition insecurity.
NDMA has warned that the situation may worsen due to prospects of poor rains between March and April this year.
Many households in the county depend on subsistence farming to feed their families but with the failed rains they are likely to have limited food access due to the high prices.
Mr Mbogho said the November/December below-average rainy season will lead to a deterioration of an already dire food security and malnutrition situation this year.
"This area does not depend on the coming March/April rain for agriculture. This would further deepen the hunger crisis. So, we should brace for tough times ahead," he said.
Mr Mbogho said 1.6 per cent of the county's children population is suffering from malnutrition in the county.
He said six out of 375 children in the county were multritioned with under five being the most affected.
A report by NDMA shows that many residents in the four sub-counties cannot afford a proper meal as a result of the skyrocketing food prices.
In Voi sub-county, 60 percent of the total population can not afford three square meals a day while in Mwatate, Taveta and Wundanyi 35 percent, 20 percent and 10 percent of their populations do not know where the next meal will come from.
"Voi is the most affected followed by the other sub-counties. The situation may worsen due to prospects of an unpredicted season between March and April this year," he said.
Mr Mbogho added that the forage situation for livestock and wildlife has relatively improved.
He said open water sources like water pans had been replenished by the rains by 40 per cent.
"The water sources can last for three months as we wait for the next season which is however unpredictable. Despite the poor rainfall the animals that were emaciated are now healthy," he said.
He also called on the residents to preserve the little cereals and vegetables they will harvest to avert acute starvation.
"As a government, we have taken various initiatives to save the residents and avert starvation. The residents should also take the initiative of drying up the cereals and vegetables to use when the situation becomes dire," he said.
