This archive report was first published on 19 September 2019.
As Kenya faces a food-shortage crisis, the government has announced plans to support families affected by hunger through mobile cash transfer by December this year.
Government Spokesperson Col. (Rtd) Cyrus Oguna said the government has put together a team to operationalize the process, which will not only save people from the demeaning process of queuing for several hours to get a supply of famine relief food but also curb theft of food meant for hunger victims.
According to Col. Oguna, the government has put in place measures to ensure that there will be no hunger by 2022 in line with President Kenyatta’s Big Four agenda.
Currently, 2.6 million Kenyans are facing hunger in 23 counties, with expectant mothers and over 623,000 children among them. The government has already spent over 1.7 billion shillings to feed the hunger victims since April this year.
Kenya is staring at a food-shortage crisis following projections of a sharp drop in the maize harvest this year. Agriculture Chief Administrative Secretary, Andrew Tuimur, announced the anticipated drop in maize production, citing a decrease in land under the crop from 2.2 million hectares last year to 1.5 million hectares.
Dr. Tuimur also attributed the uneven germination of the crop to a lengthy dry spell during the planting period, resulting in farmers expected to harvest only 33 million bags, compared to 44 million last year.
Multiple infestations of the dreaded fall army worms damaged the crop, according to Dr Johnstone Irungu, the director of crops in the Ministry of Agriculture.
