National Steering Committee on Drought Response raises KES 1 billion for drought mitigation – Kenyan Business Feed

The National Steering Committee on Drought Response has raised KES 1 billion for drought mitigation as it targets one million Kenyans in the latest phase of food distribution.

The Committee under the WaKenya Tulindane Campaign will this week distribute food in Garissa, Nyeri, Taita Taveta, Narok, Marsabit, Meru, Baringo, Kwale, and Makueni Counties. The food will be distributed to 48,560 households, targeting 290,000 Kenyans.

“We are grateful to Kenyans for the contributions thus far that have reached KES 1 billion even as we align as a committee on the short, medium, and long term plans. We have started implementing some of them such as a partnership with the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) to rehabilitate between 250 to 300 boreholes that are expected to give one million Kenyans access to water,” said Peter Ndegwa, Chairman, National Steering Committee on Drought Response.

The National Steering Committee on Drought Response has so far distributed food to over 400,000 Kenyans in 67,000 households since December last year in Marsabit, Turkana, Mandera, Wajir, Kilifi, Kitui, Kajiado, Isiolo, Samburu and Meru Counties.

Kenyans can contribute through PayBill 880990, which is available on all mobile networks and through the National Drought Mitigation Appeal Fund under KCB Bank, Riverside branch through account number 1305486137.

The latest data from the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) shows that 6 million Kenyans from 32 counties are food insecure with the persisting drought set to continue due to depressed rainfall. At least 970,000 children and 142,000 pregnant women are malnourished, with urgent lifesaving interventions needed. The number of malnourished children has risen from 884,000 children as at July 2022.

The report also shows that over 2.6 million heads of livestock have died as a result of the drought. Water availability has been suppressed with 60% of open water sources drying up and most permanent rivers recording below 40% of normal flow.

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