Browsing: Drought in Kenya

• Kenya will receive an additional US$126 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to address the ongoing drought
• USAID said it was providing the funding to address the hunger crisis that has left more than four million people in the grips of a dire hunger crisis
• The announcement comes following a visit to the country by First Lady Jill Biden where she met with drought-affected communities and heard first-hand about the devastating impacts

Kenya will receive an additional US$126 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to address the ongoing drought.

On Tuesday, February 28, 2023, USAID said it was providing the funding to address the hunger crisis that has left more than four million people in the grips of a dire hunger crisis.

According to USAID, the number is expected to rise to over five million by June 2023.

The announcement comes following a visit …

• UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that an extended, multi-season drought is driving acute food insecurity in the region
• FAO said that 12 to 14 million people are now at risk as crops continue to wither and animals weaken
• Resource-based conflicts are escalating as competition for water and pasturelands increases, and malnutrition rates are rising in affected areas of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia

Multiple data, including that of the African Development Bank (AfDB) indicates that Africa holds the key for feeding the nine billion people that will be on Earth by 2050. 

While delivering a passionate speech at Iowa State University in the US in 2017, AfDB’s President Akinwumi Adesina noted that the continent sits on 65 percent of the uncultivated arable land left in the world. 

He said that what Africa does with agriculture will determine the future of food in the world.  Adesina also noted that the …

• At least 2.3 million Kenyans in 23 arid and semi-arid counties affected by drought will benefit from government relief
• He added that the government had undertaken several measures since the 8th of September 2021, when he declared the ongoing drought a national disaster 
• He said the government had released KSh 2 billion to assist the affected households through relief food distribution, water trucking and a livestock offtake programme

At least 2.3 million Kenyans in 23 arid and semi-arid counties affected by drought will benefit from government relief. On Monday, President Uhuru Kenyatta flagged a consignment of emergency relief supplies to reach all affected people.

Kenyatta said the government is focused on implementing interventions to build resilience in all vulnerable households.

He added that the government was diversifying livelihoods from drought-sensitive activities to drought-resilient ones and improving early warning and impact forecasting systems.

He added that the government had undertaken several …

• EY Kenya expects the Kenyan economy to rebound and grow by 5 per cent in 2022
• The country is currently in the throes of elections, drought and the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
• The growth will be achieved at the back of various intervention measures rolled out in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic

Global Audit firm, EY Kenya said it expects the Kenyan economy to rebound and grow by 5 per cent in 2022.

Though the country is currently in the throes of elections, drought and the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,  EY Kenya said that the fundamentals should position the country to defy negative growth patterns as earlier projected.

The firm said that the growth will be achieved at the back of various intervention measures that have been rolled out by the government in fighting the covid 19 pandemic.

“Kenya appears to have weathered this pandemic and the …