Herders helpless as livestock drop dead in drought-hit Kajiado

Jackeline Parsin is distraught after the ongoing drought ravaging various parts of the country led to the death of her livestock.

She has lost more than 20 cows and she says the future looks bleak.

“There is no pasture and water,” Parsin, a resident of Ilkelunyeti village in Kajiado, says.

To get water for domestic use, Parsin says they trek for more than 10km to get water.

“Men have moved far with livestock in tow in search of water and pasture. They sometimes go for three months,” she says.

But as men move with livestock, the weak ones and the calves as well as goats, sheep and donkeys are left under her watch.

The donkeys are useful as they ferry water for kilometres to various homes.

This means that Parsin, who says the animals have a lot of challenges, has to provide pasture and water for the remaining livestock.

She says that the donkeys are also weak and they no longer carry 10 jerricans as they too have been affected.

The beasts of burden now carry three to four jerricans.

Kajiado is one of the hardest hit counties by the ongoing drought in at least 40 years that has lost more than 290,000 head of cattle and more than one million others at risk of death by starvation.

Already, the Ministry of Agriculture has released Sh300 million to allow farmers to sell their livestock to the Kenya Meat Commission.

Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi announced the new interventions during his fact-finding mission in Kajiado county.

The prices for livestock have however deteriorated.

At a nearby borehole, seven weak and emaciated donkeys patiently wait as they browse for dry matter.

Near the borehole, sheep and goats on the other hand outdo each other in trying to find what to heat.

Survival of the fittest is the game here.

It is barely 11am and temperatures here are more than 40 degrees Celsius.

The solar-powered borehole was funded by World Wide Fund for Nature-Kenya with the support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The borehole, which is in Nasaru Conservancy, supports 42 households in Ilkelunyeti, 30 households in Esiteti, 51 in Nemasi and 24 in Emirishoi.

The conservancy aims to protect 168,975 acres (68,382 hectares/684km2) of privately owned agricultural land full of endangered mega-fauna of Africa, such as lions, elephants and giraffes.

The conservancy manager oversees the running of the borehole while community rangers provide security.

The drought, which is attributed to the four successive failed rains, continues to worsen in 20 of the 23 arid and semi-arid lands counties.

The number of people in need of humanitarian assistance currently stands at 4.35 million based on the 2022 long rains food and nutritional security assessment report.

Eleven counties —Garissa, Isiolo, Kajiado, Kitui, Mandera, Marsabit, Laikipia, Samburu, Tana River, Turkana, and Wajir — are in the alarm drought phase, while nine counties — Embu, Kilifi, Kwale, Makueni, Meru, Narok, Nyeri, Tharaka Nithi and Taita Taveta — are in the alert drought phase.

The remaining three counties — Baringo, West Pokot and Lamu — are in the normal drought phase.

Acute malnutrition has also been noted across the counties with 942,000 cases of children aged 6-59 months acutely malnourished and 134,000 cases of pregnant or lactating women acutely malnourished and in need of treatment.

Veronica Shaga is one of the rangers protecting the borehole at Nasaru Conservancy as well as wildlife within the expansive land.

WWF-K is among the partners that support the rangers by paying their salary.

Shaga says the common wildlife in the conservancy include zebras, monkeys, Impala and hyenas, among others.

Due to the ongoing drought, the body condition of livestock has deteriorated, a move that has affected the price.

In the Bisil market, where the smell of death is inescable, sheep and goats go for as low as Sh100 and a cow goes for Sh500.

Before the drought, a cow would ordinarily go for between Sh20, 000 and Sh50, 000.

Hyenas and vultures are happy as the livestock owners feel dejected.

At Kimana market, a cow goes for between Sh6,000 and 10,000.

Kimana market chairman Banati ole Keneti says animals have lately been going long distances to look for water and pasture, adding that those that are able to trek to the market are weak and emaciated.

He also says livestock owners dispose of their weak and emaciated livestock at throw-away prices because they do not want them to die in their hands, which means they are fetching little money. 

Kenet, who says they do not know what the weather pattern have in store for them, adds that a bale of hay goes for Sh350.

However, livestock owners have to strike a balance between getting their own food and that for livestock.

A study by the Wildlife Research Institute on the impacts of drought on wildlife showed that wildlife has not been spared.

The mortality data were collected by Kenya Wildlife Service rangers, community scouts and research teams from Wildlife Research and Training Institute and NGOs operating in the eight conservation areas.

The study showed that the Laikipia-Samburu and Amboseli ecosystems are the worst hit, having recorded more than 70 elephant deaths each, followed by a total of 54 deaths recorded at the Tsavo East, Tsavo West and ranches within it. 

The Amboseli ecosystem, which hosts more than 1,900 elephants has so far lost 76 elephants to the drought of which 45 were juveniles dying of malnutrition since the mothers could not produce enough milk.

According to the November forecast by the Kenya Meteorological Department, occasional rainfall is likely over several parts of the country.

The October-November-December short rains season typically peaks in November.

However, the cumulative amount expected is likely to be below average in the Lake Victoria Basin, the highlands west of the Rift Valley, the central and south Rift Valley, the highlands east of the Rift Valley, the South-eastern lowlands, the north-western, north-eastern and the coastal strip.

However, isolated episodes of heavy rains are likely to be experienced in several parts of the country during the month.

The weather outlook for November 2022 to January 2023 indicates that the whole country will experience below-average rainfall and warmer-than-average temperatures.

(edited by Amol Awuor)