The number of Kenyans facing starvation has risen from 2.7 million to three million.
Agriculture PS Richard Lesiyampe yesterday said the government has done its best, but Sh11 billion is still needed to fight the ravaging drought up to July.
"We have approved Sh7.4 billion to be used in the second phase between February and April. But we have a gap of Sh11 billion and we have appealed to development partners to help," he told the press at KICC.
The PS, who doubles up as the chief technical coordinator between national government and county government, was accompanied by UN Resident Coordinator Siddharth Chatterjee, Kenya Red Cross Society secretary general Abbas Gullet, EU Head of Delegation to Kenya Stefano Dejak and businessman Chris Kirubi.
Others were Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua and Foreign Affairs PS Monica Juma.
Lesiyampe said scientific and physical assessment completed last month showed the situation is becoming worse.
Last week, President Uhuru Kenyatta declared drought a national disaster.
He urged relevant ministries and authorities to scale up their drought mitigation programmes.
Lesiyampe said Sh 5.5 billion has been used in phase one, from September last year to January, on food, water, livestock, health and nutrition.
He said the climate outlook by the weathermen shows tough times are yet to come.
The PS said plans are in place to import between two to three million yellow maize for livestock feeds.