- Title: KENYA: Country hit by severe drought
- Date: 30th January 2009
- Summary: DRY LANDSCAPE/ CLOUDY SKY CLOUDS VARIOUS OF WOMEN FETCHING WATER FROM RIVER HOUSES IN AREA VARIOUS OF DRIED UP PLANT STEMS TO BE USED AS FIREWOOD VARIOUS OF CRUSHED HERBS IN MORTAR PESTLE TAVETA, KENYA (JANUARY 28, 2009) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) GABRIELLE MENEZES, WFP PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, SAYING: "A number of factors have combined together to create this
- Embargoed: 14th February 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Kenya
- Country: Kenya
- Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
- Reuters ID: LVAAXQ2MATIPK7WJMVDE6H7SL7DF
- Story Text: Millions of Kenyans are suffering as a result of a severe drought. Analyst also blame high food prices and corruption for their plight.
South Western Kenya have gone two seasons without rain. Ten million people are now in urgent need of food aid, according to the government.
The arid, northern part of the country is worst hit but the effects are now spreading to food producing areas, including those near the coast, which produce maize, the staple food in the east African country.
Sixty-year-old Kizigwa Mwagudu's farm produced 30 to 50 bags of maize before the rains failed and now he says he hasn't had a successful crop in months.
"This season I have harvested nothing, as you can see everything is dried up, the crop never even matured, it did not bear anything because of the sun," said Mwagudu.
The situation is made worse by an already existing shortfall of maize in Kenya caused largely by the crisis of early 2007, when an outbreak of violence over a disputed election killed 1,300 people and drove 300,000 from their homes.
It also comes at a time when the government is mired in corruption scandals. Critics say Kenya's coalition government is partly to blame for the grain shortfall because of poor planning and high-level corruption involving the import, storage and sale of maize.
Market forces and rising food prices have also played a role.
Gabrielle Manezes is the public information officer for the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP). She makes a number of factors like rising food prices and the drought responsible for the current food crisis. According to Manezes, particularly the South eastern area is affected by the drought.
"They depend on the rains to create 70 percent of their food and they are reporting to have totally failed crops", she said.
The drought is also causing hardship around the East and Horn of Africa, particularly Somalia and Ethiopia.
In Kinangu, women are making up for the poor harvest by crushing stones in quarries so they can earn money to go into major towns and buy food.
The government declared a national emergency over the drought early last month and made an international appeal for 470 million U.S. dollars. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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