Kajiado residents appeal relief food amid biting drought

Residents of Iarat, Kajiado West Sub County are appealing to the government to provide relief food as the drought continues to ravage the area.

The herders want the government to provide relief food as well as animal feeds to cushion them against the ravaging drought.

“We have no food, we are depending on water we fetch 20kms away using donkeys. We are appealing to the county and National governments to provide us with relief food so that we can be able to survive,” said Naishoo Nemuli, one of the residents.

The residents noted that the area has not received any rainfall for the past one year and the ongoing drought is not only affecting their livestock but their pockets too as moving from one area to another is quite costly.

“For one year now, this area has not received rainfall and that has made us to keep relocating from one place to another in search of pasture which is taking a toll on us as it is damn expensive,” one of the residents, Kishao Parmuat said.

Learning for most of the young boys in the area has been disrupted as they are the ones given the responsibility of taking care of the livestock when away from home forcing them drop out of school.

“Most boys from the age of 12 are forced to drop out of school to look after the animals after relocating while the girls lack school fees as the animals are emaciated and do not fetch a good price in the market,” said Parmuat.

Kajiado County was listed as one of the counties affected by drought by the National Drought Management Authority.

Only few areas within the county received short rains and are now overpopulated by livestock leading to high diminishing of pasture and disease outbreak.

The herders are now opting to relocate to Makueni and Machakos counties in search of pasture.