- Some 11,250 cattle and 3,200 goats have been bought from farmers from 12 most-affected counties.
- Ground slaughter is set to begin in due course, and targets 2,147,790 people and 25,387 livestock.
Image: CHETI PRAXIDES
The government has injected Sh450 million to help struggling livestock farmers.
Many parts of the country are experiencing prolonged drought after the October-December short rains failed.
Livestock farmers have lost thousands of animals, forcing the government to step in to help them.
Government Spokesperson Cyrus Oguna said the programme has two streams: The commercial off-take and ground off-take.
"The amount has been used to offload weak cattle from farmers under the commercial off-take programme. Some 11,250 cattle and 3,200 goats have been bought from farmers from the 12 most-affected counties," he said.
These include Baringo, Garissa, Isiolo, Kilifi, Kitui, Lamu, Mandera, Marsabit, Samburu, Tana River Turkana and Wajir.
Oguna was giving an update on the state interventions against the drought.
He said ground slaughter is set to begin in due course, and targets 2,147,790 people and 25,387 livestock.
Oguna said the government has continued to deploy different kinds of interventions to help stabilise the situation until the long rains.
"Overall, the counties under food and water stress remain 23. Out of these, 12 counties – namely Samburu, Tana River, Turkana, Wajir, Baringo, Garissa, Isiolo, Kilifi, Kitui, Lamu, Mandera and Marsabit – are facing severe risk of drought. The remaining 11 counties face moderate risk of drought.
Image: STEPHEN ASTARIKO
Interventions
He said the government has rolled out long-term and short-term interventions. The short-term interventions include the livestock off-take and cash transfer programmes.
The cash transfer programme replaced the physical distribution of food from December 9 last year.
"Since then, 225,705 beneficiary households from 23 ASAL counties have been incorporated into the cash transfer programme, with each household receiving Sh3,000. This amounts to Sh677,115,000 that was disbursed by the government to the beneficiaries in the month of December 2021," Oguna said.
In January 2022, more than Sh400 million was disbursed to 165,128 households in the 12 most-affected counties.
Oguna said funds totalling Sh179,816,128 for beneficiaries in the other 11 counties are being processed.
The government is also providing water to affected households at a cost of Sh350 million.
Another intervention is the Inua Jamii social support programme, which helps vulnerable groups.
So far the government has released Sh8 billion. Some 1,067,805 people, including elderly persons, orphans and vulnerable children and persons with severe disability have received the money.
Other interventions include the Sh400 million presidential secondary school bursary and the hunger safety net programme.
Oguna said long-term interventions include infrastructure development, sustainable livelihoods, drought risk management and peace and security.