Posted on August, 23, 2022 at 08:51 am
The drought situation continued to worsen in twenty (20) of the 23 ASAL counties. This is attributed to the poor performance of the 2021 Long rains coupled with previous three failed consecutive seasons. The number of people in need of assistance is projected to increase to 4.35 million by October 2022 if the short rains season performs below average. Seven (7) counties namely; Isiolo, Mandera, Samburu, Turkana, Wajir, Laikipia and Marsabit are in Alarm drought phase while Thirteen (13) counties including Embu, Garissa, Kajiado, Kitui, Makueni, Meru, Narok, Nyeri, Tharaka Nithi, Taita Taveta, Tana River, Kwale and Kilifi are in Alert drought phase. The remaining three (3) counties including Baringo, West Pokot and Lamu are in Normal drought phase. Acute malnutrition has also been noted across the counties with 884,464 cases of children aged 6-59 months acutely malnourished and 115,725 cases of pregnant or lactating women acutely malnourished and in need of treatment.
Drought indicators
July Rainfall Performance
Several parts of ASALs remained relatively dry in July. Several parts of the ASALs counties experienced below-average rainfall (less than 75mm of rainfall). The Pastoral North East (PNE) counties including; Mandera, Wajir,
Isiolo, Tana River and parts of Garissa received between < 10mm to 25mm of rainfall totals. The South East Marginal Agriculture (SEMA) counties; Tharaka Nithi, Embu, Kajiado, Meru, Makueni and Kitui counties received very little rainfall in the range (< 10mm - 50mm). The Coast Marginal Agriculture (CMA) counties received some off-season rainfall with parts of Kwale, Kilifi and Lamu counties receiving moderate to above normal rainfall. Lamu and northern Kilifi received between 51mm - 100mm of rainfall while some parts of Agropastoral cluster; Baringo and West Pokot received off-season rainfall that was moderate in the range of 76mm - 125mm of rainfall totals, with some areas receiving very high rainfall totals of >151mm.
Source: ReliefWeb