Food, water and pasture for Kenyans before politics.

Kenya, like other parts of the Sub-Saharan region, is facing the devastating impacts of drought. The Kenya Red Cross reported that about 2.1 million Kenyans are experiencing hunger and water scarcity as a result of the drought. This is not the first time Kenyans are dying of hunger associated with drought.  The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), estimates that between 2014 and 2020, 92 million Kenyans were moderately and severely food insecure. 

So huge are such statistics for a country whose President prides himself in addressing food security as part of his Big Four Agenda.  It is under the same President’s watch that the failure of the Galana Kulalu irrigation scheme happened – a massive blow to hunger reduction efforts in Kenya. 5.9  billion Kenyan Shillings were sunk into the irrigation scheme that collapsed in 2019, without bearing much fruit. Of particular concern is that between 2017 and 2019, 33.1 million Kenyans were moderately and severely food insecure. Coincidentally, at the same time, the Big Four agenda was launched and the 2014 initiated Galana Kulalu Irrigation project failed.

Dead cow in Tana River county. Image by Kevocs.

Kenyans and their livestock have died of hunger, having their dignity stripped away as they walk for long distances and queue for several hours to get relief food they have no choice over.  This is the same dignity the President vowed to grant Kenyans by putting enough food on their tables through the Big Four Agenda. 

Drought is a cyclic phenomenon in Kenya, currently exacerbated by the climate crisis. A report by the Kenya Meteorological Department shows a continuous occurrence of droughts between 2011 to 2020.  One would assume that the President would be aware of this fact and that he and his administration would craft concrete solutions rather than knee jerk reactions every time the country is hit with drought and hunger. 

In September 2021, the President declared the drought a national disaster and instructed the Treasury to release Kshs.2 billion to provide relief food and other emergency support to families affected by the drought. A rather reactionary approach aimed at responding to drought events and not cushioning Kenyans from hunger.

The continued loss of lives and livestock speaks volumes about Kenya’s preparedness to respond to disasters. A few weeks back, flash floods occured in Marsabit claiming lives of locals alongside their livestock. This would have been avoided had proper emergency response mechanisms been put in place.  It is time for the County and National governments to work together to protect the livelihoods of the pastoralist communities majorly affected by drought.

A nation that cannot feed its people is a failed nation. President Uhuru needs to shift focus from emergency interventions to those that build the resilience of communities to adapt to extreme weather events orchestrated by climate variability. 

The President, through the Ministry of Devolution and the National Drought Management Authority, should ensure that strategic measures such as repairing and servicing strategic boreholes, wells and water pipes are timely. The Kshs 2 billion released for relief food recently, as instructed by the President, would have been sufficient in restoring old boreholes and wells long before the occurrence of the drought, and loss of livestock by communities. 

To enable more smallholder farmers to produce locally relevant food, the President should revoke oppressive seed laws such as the Seed and Plant Varieties Act  2012, which bars smallholder farmers from selling and sharing their own indigenous seeds.  

Smallholder farmers produce about 75% of the food consumed in Kenya. They need to be empowered to embrace traditional seeds such as millet, sorghum and pigeon peas that have crucial genetic compositions which are resistant to heat, drought, pests and diseases. These traditional crops help farmers adapt to the changing climatic patterns and survive long periods of drought.

Frequently cultivated crops such as maize, wheat and rice are not drought resistant and require a lot of water to reach maturity.  Studies such as Mabhaudhi 2016 project that climate change projections decrease yields of wheat (-22%), maize (-5%) and rice (-2%) due to increases in drought and temperatures. On the other hand, cereal crops, such as sorghum and millets, which are indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa are drought tolerant and have the potential to produce reasonable yields in areas where major cereal crops may fail due to low rainfall.

The Kenyan government through the  Ministry of Treasury needs to shift budgetary allocations from environmental degrading coal projects to addressing hunger.  Climate scientists found that human-induced climate change contributed substantially to the 2015–2016 extreme drought over East and Southern Africa by accentuating the natural El Niño impacts. The 1.3 billion shillings allocated to the exploration and mining of coal in this 2021/2022  budget can drill adequate boreholes and wells to communities in drought susceptible areas.  Such measures will help communities to bounce back from the impacts of the ravenous droughts and cushion them from impending droughts in the future.

This article was first published in the Daily Nation.