Households in 15 counties that have a total population of more than 10 million remain at risk of acute hunger this year, extending the ravages witnessed through 2022, reports from different organisations warn.
The reports by at least four public and private organisations also show that due to the failure of rains for five consecutive planting seasons, households in 24 of the 47 counties, with an estimated 18.8 million people, will facing food emergency, food crisis or stressed food insecurity between February and May.
At least six counties in Northern Kenya face an emergency food situation, Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fews Net) warns. These are Turkana, Marsabit, Isiolo, Wajir, Mandera and Garissa, which have a cumulative population of 4.6 million people according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) .
Nine other counties will be facing food crises during the period, with an estimated cumulative population of 5.8 million people in danger of high levels of food shortage. The counties are Tana River, Kitui, Makueni, Tharaka-Nithi, Laikipia, Baringo, Samburu, Elgeyo-Marakwet and West Pokot, the October-December Fews Net analysis shows.
“A sixth below-average rainy season is forecast in early 2023, which will likely prolong this humanitarian emergency until the next rains in late 2023,” the organisation says.
The warnings by the organisation come as different government agencies, including the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), KNBS and the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) also warn of Kenya’s failing agriculture.
NDMA’s December 2022 update stated that the impact of the drought situation has seen the number of people requiring humanitarian assistance stand at 4.35 million.
“The drought situation remained critical in 20 of the 23 ASAL (arid and semi-arid lands) counties during the month of November 2022,” it stated, adding that in December, at least 13 counties – Taita-Taveta, Isiolo, Kilifi, Kwale, Samburu, Turkana, Wajir, Kitui, Kajiado, Mandera, Garissa, Tana River and Marsabit – remained in the alarm drought phase. Laikipia improved to alert phase, joining Narok, Tharaka-Nithi, Makueni, Nyeri, Meru and Laikipia.
CBK’s November 2022 agriculture sector survey established that yields for all the sampled food crops fell below the potential in the season to November 2022 owing to failed rains and lack of access to farming inputs.
Noting that the use of farm inputs remains beyond the reach of most farmers due to the associated costs, CBK added that 91 per cent of Kenyan farmers rely on rain-fed agriculture, a big risk for the country’s food security.
It identified high transport costs, input prices and weather conditions as accounting for over 40 per cent of the factors that significantly affect agricultural production in Kenya.
Last year, KNBS reported that farmers cut fertiliser imports by nearly 60 per cent in the first half of the year, a warning that farming activities fell greatly. The data showed that while 445,671 tonnes of fertiliser were imported into the country in the first half of 2021, the amount reduced to 190,357 tonnes in a similar period in 2022.
