Nairobi clergyman Rev Euticauls Wambua has called on the government, NGOs and churches to make collaborative efforts to cushion hundreds of families facing hunger in Kitui.
"My appeal is for the government, NGOs and churches to come out and support many famine-stricken families until when they will harvest some crops from their farms," Rev Wambua said on Wednesday.
The church leader made the call even as the County National Drought Management Authority coordinator Francis Koma painted a gloomy picture of food security situation in the region.
Koma said it was estimated that more than 400,000 people in Kitui were in dire need of food aid due to severe hunger.
He said Kitui was entering the fifth failed rain season and therefore the number of people requiring relief food support that stood at 384,000 in last December will surpass the 400,000 mark by mid-January.
Kitui county has a population of 1.1 million.
"The October to December short rains have performed dismally. Projection indicate that farmers are unlikely to realise more than 40 per cent of the expected farm yields," Koma said.
Rev Wambua, who hails from Kitui county and is a senior pastor at the Lucky Summer Baptist Chapel in Nairobi, said his recent visit to his rural home during Christmas and New Year celebrations had revealed the serious struggle many families are going through to put food on the table.
He said he decided to put a smile on the faces of many struggling families, at least during Christmas festivities, by donating food to them.
"An estimated 3,100 families received the Christmas food support. I spent Sh2.3 million in the region to acquire the food," the cleric said.
"The packages I gave out contained 5kg maize flour, 2kg wheat flour, 2kg rice and 2kg sugar."
He said that although he had initially targeted the elderly and the most vulnerable families, he had to review his plan and give support to many more people as the number of those facing food insecurity were too high.
Rev Wambua said that since the provision of famine relief food rations to the hungry was just a stop gap measure, the long-term solution was to ensure that areas regularly affected by drought are provided with water for irrigation.
"In the long-term , boreholes need to be sunk in those areas. The borehole water could be used to irrigate farms when rains fail like it has happened in the last two years in Kitui," the clergyman said.
He called on pastoralists communities that have been hard hit by the current drought to diversify by venturing into farming instead of solely depending on animal keeping.
"Practising farming especially in areas that receive some rain or where a reliable water source is available and pasture had dwindled due to poor rains could be assure of a source for food," Rev Wambua said.
He said as a measure to address food insecurity, the relevant government agencies should carry out intense research and come up with seeds for crops that could do well in areas that receive little rains.
Noting that the increasingly unreliable rains have everything to do with the impact of climate change, he said the government and Kenyans at large should take tree planting seriously as a mitigation measure.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
