Posted on February, 10, 2017 at 10:02 am
The current drought condition puts Kenya’s agriculture sector on the spot. FRED AMINGA spoke to Tegemeo’s Miltone Ayieko, Francis Karin and James Githuku on the social economic impacts of drought.
Q: What would sort Kenya’s drought related challenges in the arid and semi-arid (ASAL) areas?
A: In the 80s and 90s severe droughts occurred every 10 years. This has reduced to every three to four years currently. In 1997, drought affected more than two million people.
In 2010/2011 the worst drought in 60 years, affected more than 13 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. Government response to drought in ASAL areas is reactive, in the form of humanitarian assistance.
There is under investment in critical sectors, which weakens adaptive capacities. There is lack of clear policy that points to what arm of government is responsible for drought management.
There is need for efficient drought management to ensure that regional, national and county governments are able to respond effectively.
Mainstreaming drought management within relevant ministries, and the institutionalisation of drought management in policy is required.
Thiswould enable coordinated interventions along the livestock value chain and give pastoralists incentives to sell more once drought alerts are triggered.
Q: Explain Kenya’s strategic drought plan and areas requiring improvement.
A:The strategy for managing drought in ASAL areas is contained in several documents, including the Drought Conditions and Management Strategies Kenya (2014) and the Programming Framework to End Drought Emergencies in Horn of Africa (2012) among others.
Because strategies are domiciled in different departments, and are reactive in nature, they have not been effective. Heavy livestock losses have been incurred, despite efforts to improve early warning and surveillance systems.
The National Drought Management Authority relies on sector departments for technical data. Ensuring accuracy and understanding of data is therefore critical.
There is need for a coordinated approach between the meteorological department, various surveillance agencies and the government to collate drought information and respond quickly.
Q: Estimate how much Kenya loses from a drought of this magnitude.
A: In 2011 it was estimated that livestock worth Sh56.1 billion died. An additional Sh643.2 billion was lostthrough emerging constraints along the production and food supply value chains.
The ongoing drought has not reached the scale of the 2011 yet. According to the Igad’s Centre for Pastoral Areas and Livestock Development livestock contribution to the Kenyan GDP was Sh472 billion in 2009.
Assuming the drought severity of 40 to 50 per cent relative to the 2011 drought, the estimated livestock losses is likely to be about Sh23 to 30 billion. Already the cost of milk has increased by around 10 per cent.
Q: Is the livestock off-take initiative helping people in the arid and semi- arid lands?
A: In November last year, the cabinet agreed to set up a Sh21.4 billion emergency fund. Part of this money was earmarked for livestock off-take in ASAL areas.
The off-take programme, implemented through the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC), is aimed at buying affected animals from pastoralists. KMC was allocated Sh700 million as grant for this purpose. More than 5,000 cattle have been purchased and slaughtered.
The procedure of purchasing for off-take is through restricted tendering. Selected agencies and county steering groups identify and purchase the animals on their behalf.
The animals are ransported to KMC plants in Athi River for commercial meat processing, or slaughtered at the county level for distribution to the affected population as relief. Restocking is done by Agricultural Development Corporation and Agricultural Finance Corporation.
Source: MediaMax Network