Northeastern residents want lasting solution to perennial drought

After clerics and residents of Northeastern offered prayers on numerous occasions, the rain is finally pounding the region.

Abdi Mohamed, a resident of Bute, said their prayers for God to open the heavens have finally been answered.

“Our problems as residents of Northeastern are very small. All we want is water and pasture for our animals and we are good to go. If we have rain in plenty like in other parts of the country, then we could be millionaires,” he said.

Mohamed said long-term solutions should be sought to strengthen the capacities of counties to respond to the cyclic droughts.

"Yes, we now have the rain, which we have been praying for. But again, what are we doing to stop the same from happening again? Unfortunately our government is not doing much to address this," he said.

Hassan Abdi, a pastoralist from Saka in Balambala, said the government should store enough fodder that can be distributed to herders in the region.

He said the current livestock feed arrangement is not helping farmers since the fodder that is distributed is always too little for all the animals.

"You saw the other day the government launched a livestock feed distribution drive. I never saw the feed, yet I have 30 cows and close to 100 goats and sheep. The government needs to be serious and change tact if it is to succeed on this one. Otherwise, we will keep on losing animals whenever there is drought," he said.

Kenya Livestock Marketing Council chairman Dubat Amey said national and county governments and other partners should change how they approach drought.

He said long-term solutions, among them building mega dams, should be sought.

"How long will the water and pasture last? The short-term drought mitigation strategy applied every drought period is not enough," Dubat said.

Garissa National Disaster and Management Authority in its November report indicated that the effects of the dry spell meant that residents had to spend much of their time looking for water. They had to walk long distances to reach boreholes where they queued and competed for the precious commodity with livestock.

According to the NDMA report, milk production at the household level reduced due to lack of pasture, distance to water sources, and the deteriorating condition of the livestock.

Wajir county commissioner Jacob Narengo said drought has triggered conflicts between the communities of Hadado and Merti subcounties on the border between Wajir and Isiolo.

He said the conflict has led to the deaths of more than 20 people in the last two years.

Incidents of human-wildlife conflict due to severe drought also increased, especially in Wajir North, where warthogs and monkeys were walking into people’s houses looking for food and water.

Meanwhile, the Wajir government’s allocation of Sh180 million to special programmes was used to purchase emergency livestock feed and food aid to save lives and livelihoods at the subcounty level.

This was not enough, according to humanitarian organisations operating in Wajir, because the county has more than 781,000 people and more than half of the population was facing acute food insecurity and acute severe malnutrition.

The Wajir administration is being urged to reallocate development resources to address climate-induced emergencies.

Edited by A.N