Severe droughts continue to cause hardship to thousands

Severe droughts continue to cause hardship to thousands

Last year you may remember, Kenya suffered serious drought conditions which pushed prices of basic commodities to an all time high. With help from several quarters, we were able to maintain good nutrition for our children throughout that difficult time.

The drought ended with long awaited rains which allowed a decent harvest for many small scale farmers in the Homa Bay area. Cereal prices remain high though, and we are hearing of new problems recently. Heavy rain has caused floods which destroyed some large maize farms and killed several people in parts of Nyanza, Rift Valley and Central provinces of Kenya.

In addition, this season’s maize crop has not materialised in some growing regions of Kenya because of a deadly new disease which is spreading countrywide. The plants are dying before they can produce maize cobs and scientific investigations are underway to find the cause. Another maize shortage will affect thousands of Kenyans and children will be even more vulnerable in households where food is already hard to obtain.

We are watching this situation carefully.