NAIROBI: PRIME MINISTER RAILA ODINGA ON FOOD AND DROUGHT SITUATION

Fri, May 27, 2011  

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has tasked the National Drought Steering Committee to urgently draft proposals to the Cabinet on the drought and food situation in the country.
After chairing a meeting of the committee in his offices, Mr Odinga said the Government may have to declare a drought disaster particularly in Arid and Semi Arid Lands where food security appears compromised and livestock are in danger as a result of less than normal rains.
The PM also instructed the Ministry of Agriculture to give the country the official position on the amount of maize in stores to enable relevant ministries involved in food provision plan.
He said the amount of maize in the country’s stores should be available at the touch of the button and instructed the ministry to work out ways of using satellite technology to map out how much maize is being grown and harvested in farms instead of walking village to village to establish the number of bags harvested.
Mr Odinga said that while relevant ministries have done a commendable job in containing the situation in ASAL resulting from the drought, the picture emerging is that the situation is getting grim and the Government may need to marshal additional resources to and channel them to these areas.
He said the situation may go on for the rest of the year, given the picture painted by the Meteorological Department.
In the presentation to the committee, the Meteorological Department said the long rains have ended, but the amount of rain received during the period was “generally poor both in time and space,” over most parts of the country with the arid and semi arid lands being the hardest hit.
Total amount of rain received over most of the country were well below 75 per cent, the Meteorological department reported.
Met says a period of dry spell in setting in as a result of La-Nina conditions.
Northern Kenya and parts of the coast received the least rains, with Mombasa, Garissa, Lamu, Wajir, Moyale and Marsabit areas receiving less than 40 per cent of their seasonal rains.
The drought committee reported that because both the October-November-December 2010 and the March to April rainfall were highly depressed and poorly distributed, the country is facing the impact of two successive poor seasons, worsening the drought problem.
The Ministry of Special Programmes reported that the Government has distributed relief food to more than 2 million Kenyans at a cost of Sh1.4 billion. But the Ministry expressed fears that the costs of items like maize and rice are shooting up while more people are turning relief supplies.
The Ministry said the price of beans have shot up while that of livestock is at all time low in ASAL, making it impossible for pastoralists to buy food by selling their animals.
At the same time, the need for relief supplies is increasing while drought worsens.
The Ministry of Water assured however that the looming drought would not affect water supply in Nairobi because the Sasumua Dam is now fully operational.