"Food in our national grain reserve enough to sustain drought situation," says Wamalwa

Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa has revealed that the country has enough food to fight the drought.

Speaking at Nginyang’in Baringo County during a food distribution exercise,  the CS said there is four million bags of maize in the National Strategic Grain Reserves to distribute to the 12 counties affected with hunger.

“The food in our national grain reserve will assist us until we are out of drought situation.’’ ‘’The country harvested over 40 million bags of maize and people should not die of hunger,’’ said the CS.

He revealed that the government has set aside  Sh2 billion to ensure that Kenyans do not suffer from the drought scourge as well as Sh3.5 million to National Draught Management authority for water trucking to water stressed parts of the country.

Wamalwa  blamed climate change for the drought and added  that there is need for the country to shift from rain fed to irrigation based agriculture to be food secure. Therefore, the government will build mega dams in Baringo that will support irrigation farming.

Baringo Deputy Governor Jacob Chepkwony, who was also in attendance insisted that not all parts of Baringo are affected and the situation is yet to, reached the alarming stage although it is on the late alert stage.

He added that they have partnered with World Food Program in a program that will see over 4500 vulnerable households benefit from a sh5000 monthly cash transfer that will also go a long way in alleviating the hunger situation.

Meanwhile, The Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) has not been left behind and have launched an urgent appeal for support towards the ongoing drought crisis in Kenya.

In a statement  sent to newsroom, KRCS says it will be seeking the support of all Kenyans, partners and stakeholders to mitigate the effect of the draught that have affected more than one million Kenyans facing risk of starvation.