The forecast that October-December rains will perform poorly in Kitui, spells doom on the prospects of the end to the current famine and drought in the region.
Consequently, in a statement shared on Sunday, some Kitui clerics appealed to the government to upscale the ongoing famine relief interventions to avert possible starvation.
Last Wednesday, the Kitui county meteorological office had announced that both scientific and traditional weather forecasters show that the October to December rains will be depressed across Kitui.
County director of meteorological services Daniel Mbithi said mid last week that the county will only get rains for between 30 to 45 days which would be less by 80 millimetres in all parts of the county.
The worrying news comes at a time when the Kitui County coordinator of the National Drought Management Authority Francis Koma has disclosed that Kitui has slipped to an early alarm drought state.
He said on Thursday that more than a quarter of the population of Kitui is acutely hunger-stricken and needs humanitarian assistance.
“At the moment 340,856 people in Kitui in a total population of 1,136,187 according to the 2019 census, are now in need of humanitarian assistance both in terms of food and water. The situation is dire,” said Koma on phone.
At the same time, the price of food stuff has goon beyond the reach of many residents making many unable to put food on the table.
The price of a kilo of maize retails at Sh100 while that of beans goes for Sh150. A similar quantity cow peas goes for Sh250 at retail outlets across the county.
“We appeal to the government to upscale the ongoing interventions and ensure increased involvement of stakeholders to guarantee that any food and aid goes to the right and intended beneficiaries,” said a statement by Kitui County Inter-religious Dialogue Reference Group.
The clerics further urged the government to continue offering short term solutions such as relief food, cash transfer, and school feeding programmes to the hard-hit regions like Mwingi North, Kitui South and Kitui East constituencies.
While addressing the Kitui County assembly last Tuesday, Kitui Governor Julius Malombe noted that he would work with partners to identify the areas where there was serious need for food assistance in order to ensue no life was lost.
“We'll ensure provision of seeds to farmers in needy areas in preparation for the October-December short rains,” Malombe said.
The Kitui head of meteorology said it was certain that the October-December rains will not only delay but its distribution will be poor and lower than normal.
He said it would be prudent for farmers to apply conservation agriculture in order to retain moisture once they receive rain through mulching.
He said growing drought tolerant crops like greengrams, cowpeas, millet and sorghum would also be prudent.
Mbithi added that only 10 Kitui wards are forecasted to receive an amount of rain that would nurture early maturing varieties of maize and beans crops. He said for the rest of the county maize and beans growing must be avoided.
