Kenya Drought Now Affects Almost 4 Million

Be Debbie DeVoe

Recurring drought in Kenya is leaving millions with little or nothing to eat. After another almost complete failure of seasonal rains coupled with increased food prices, 3.8 million people are now in need of emergency food assistance, according to the United Nations and Kenyan government.

Catholic Relief Services is supporting Church partners to help thousands of families survive the crisis and better weather drought. Current interventions build on emergency distributions of food vouchers begun in October of last year.

'Families Are Desperate for Food'

"When the rains failed to come, crops planted in April fared poorly, leaving families with no harvest this August and September," says Ruth Nguyo, CRS Kenya's agriculture project officer. "Families are desperate for food. Child malnutrition rates are rising, children are being removed from school and hired out as day laborers, and families are cutting back the size and number of meals—with many now eating just once a day."

Three projects—supported by the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, CRS private funds, and the Foods Resource Bank—are assisting more than 100,000 Kenyans hit hardest by the drought in the southeastern part of the country. Eligible families are receiving cash vouchers they can use to buy essential items, including food, seeds and farming tools. The OFDA project is also providing 15,000 farming households with seeds for planting. In return, these families are improving water and soil conservation on their farms and communal land by building dams, ponds, trenches and terraces.

CRS is exploring additional initiatives that would provide cash vouchers to highly vulnerable people unable to work, including orphans, other children and people living with HIV.

Background

Catholic Relief Services has been providing services to the people of Kenya since the early 1960s, addressing the major causes of poverty in Kenya, including drought, floods, diseases and injustice. Primary programming areas include HIV and AIDS, water and sanitation, agriculture, microfinance, justice and peacebuilding, emergency response and education. Since the post-election violence occurred in December 2007, CRS and our partners have helped more than 350,000 Kenyans to rebuild their lives.

Debbie DeVoe is Catholic Relief Services' regional information officer for eastern and southern Africa based in Nairobi, Kenya.