About 55,000 people who are facing starvation due to prolonged drought in Kieni, Nyeri County, are set to receive relief food starting Monday next week.
Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga has said that the government through the office of the Deputy President and the Ministry of Public Service, Gender, Senior Citizens Affairs and Special Programmes has released 520 bags of rice and 720 bags of beans to be distributed as an intervention towards cushioning the residents against the ravaging drought that continues to affect the area.
The governor said the food distribution would cover Kieni East and Kieni West sub-counties which have been worst hit by the raving drought.
“We are awaiting the arrival of the food aid which will be received at our stores between Friday and Saturday before we roll out the distribution on Monday. Each of the two areas will be allocated 360 bags of beans and 260 bags of rice as an immediate intervention to mitigate against effects of the famine,” said Governor Kahiga.
The National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) has warned that 55,725 people were in dire need of food assistance.
The Authority has listed Mugunda, Gatarakwa, Githima, Lusoi and Thegu as the most affected areas and in urgent need of assistance.
The report by NDMA says that the food security situation was still at the alert phase but was highly likely to drift into alarm phase.
But the governor said the numbers could be as high as 80,000 people. He said that in addition to Kieni, some parts of Mukure-ini and those residing in informal settlements in Nyeri town were also facing drought. On the overall, he said that the county was in need of food aid worth over Sh300 million.
“We know the relief food is not adequate but we will ensure that we distribute it in a way that it caters for as many people as we can,” he said.
Governor Kahiga was speaking on Friday when he flagged off fast maturing seedlings which will be disturbed to more than 4,500 farmers in various sub-counties.
The consignment included 9,000 kilogrammes of Nyota bean seeds, 8,000 HASS avocado seedlings, certified Irish potato seedlings and capsicum seeds which will be distributed through farmers’ groups.
Kahiga noted that the fast maturing potato would be distributed to rain-deficient Kieni sub-county as part of the county government’s intervention towards improving food security.
“The potatoes will specifically go to Kieni so that we are able to boost the area’s food security. It is important to note that we are expecting the short rains but we have had drought interventions like we have sunk boreholes and dug out dams where the farmers can use the little water that is still there to practice irrigation as we wait for rain,” he said.
On the issue of fertilizer, governor Kahiga said that the county had received over 4700 bags of the input from National Cereal and Produce Board (NCPB) and another 4000 bags of fertilizer from New Kenya Planters Cooperative Union (KPCU) which had already been distributed to farmers as await the short rains.
“Our allocation was, 8400 bags from NCPB and it is important to appreciate that we are working with the national government and NCPB we have distributed 4,479 bags of fertilizer. We have also received and distributed 4,000 bags from New KPCU for coffee farmers. We are expecting 7,570 bags from New KPCU to go towards coffee farming,” said Kahiga.
