Mandera county starts food distribution exercise targeting vulnerable families to avert starvation

Some 38,294 vulnerable households in Mandera county are staring at starvation as drought continues to take a toll on residents.

This was revealed on Saturday by area governor Ali Roba when he officially launched the relief food distribution for drought response across all six constituencies.

Roba said that the households are in urgent need of food assistance.

The exercise he said was part of their mitigation measures.

In the week between 9th to 15 February 2021, the county carried out an assessment of the impact of the drought on the communities with an emphasis being put on the number of households most affected in the county up to the village level.

This was broken down by constituencies as follows: Mandera South 5,256, Lafey 2,830, Mandera East 5,337, Mandera West 4,086, Mandera North 4,921, Banisa 5,101 and Kutulo2,520.

Other vulnerable households include all registered orphanages, persons living with HIV, non-locals, destitute and other special groups at 8,343.

Roba was however quick to call for more aid from the national government, other well-wishers and NGOs noting that his administration can only do much.

“Despite all our effort, the interventions that are necessary to save the lives of our people and those of their livestock are immense. We call upon the National Government, NGOs and all other development partners to provide support to the most affected,” Governor Roba said.

Abdi Mohamed a beneficiary of the programme and father of eight who hails from Mandera South thanked the county for coming to their aid at their hour of need.

“I want to sincerely thank the county for distributing us with the assorted packed foodstuff of rice, maize flour and cooking oil. the going has really been tough for my family. Livestock is our only source of livelihood and so when the drought came we were left destitute,” said Mohamed.

Mandera, just like the neighbouring counties in Northeastern did not receive adequate rainfall during the last October – November short rain season.

As a result, most of the earth pans did not collect any water and most of the grazing land did not grow any pasture for the livestock.

Last week, Governor Roba flagged off an additional 17 hired water bowsers which he said will ensure there will be an uninterrupted supply of water to the 246 water trucking centres.

He said this to alleviate the suffering of our people and animals.

In the past, the concentration of people and livestock in certain areas have caused conflicts among the pastoral communities competing for limited resources and water.

The National Drought and Management Authority has already issued an alert over the deterioration in livestock body condition and milk production.

In its January report, the authority said that storage and water sources are depleting by the day due to the failed October-December rainfall.