President Ruto, DP Gachagua to lead food drive in 12 counties on Saturday

President William Ruto flags off relief food at State House to mitigate effects of drought in 23 counties. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

To alleviate hunger, the government will tomorrow, Saturday, launch the nationwide distribution of food to the most affected communities.

This drive will involve the private and public sectors targeting to get food and water to communities that are most in need across the country.

So far, the Kenya Private Sector Association (KEPSA), the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, and Kenya Red Cross Society have played a key role in the country's response to the drought.

The 2020-2022 drought has been the most severe and the longest, the worst in 40 years. In addition, there have been inadequate or no rains at all in the past four years.

The drought and other effects of climate change have made agricultural production impossible in many parts of the country, leading to severe food shortages.

In the last long rains season, 30 million bags of maize were harvested yet the national requirement is 40 million bags.

Pastoral communities have also been hard hit with livestock deaths reaching a 2.5 million high, wiping out inter-generational wealth for families whose source of livelihood largely depends on their animals.

At tomorrow's launch, the government will initiate immediate solutions to the ongoing drought as it continues to plan long-term measures that will secure the country's food security in the future.

"The Government has given agriculture priority as it is one of the five pillars of our economic recovery plan," DP Gachagua said at the opening of the Mombasa International show on Wednesday.