Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has said that drought is now a major threat to the development of the country.
Speaking during the launch of the European Union-funded Dryland Climate Action for Community Drought Resilience (DCADR) project, the Prime CS said droughts are becoming regular because of climate change.
Mudavadi stated that the economic cost of drought has become a threat to development as it reverses gains made.
"The 2008 to 2011 drought cost our economy more than 12 Billion US Dollars. To put this into perspective, at that time, that money would have been enough to finance the education and technology budgets for the next 7 years," he said.
The Prime CS said the resources that have been channelled towards mitigating the drought situation could have been useful elsewhere.
Mudavadi noted the ongoing drought has left millions of Kenyans food insecure.
"We cannot truly say we have left no one behind when almost a million of our children aged below five years and more than 100,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women suffer acute malnutrition."
He added that while humanitarian assistance is a short-term solution to the drought-affected areas, the Kenya Kwanza government is working to put in place long-term solutions to the challenge of drought.
The Prime CS said all measures they have put in place have been paying off in terms of creating a food-secure environment, especially in ASAL areas where most people are vulnerable.
Mudavadi thanked the European Union and other partners who have stood with Kenya in her efforts to mitigate drought.
He said the additional funding from the EU under the DCADR programme.
"The additional 13 million Euros (Sh1.69 Billion) grant under the Dryland Climate Action for Community Drought Resilience project, which we are launching today, will significantly enhance the resilience of our communities to drought and other effects of climate change," Mudavadi said.
"We therefore will honour our commitment under the grant contract to contribute a further 5 million Euros (about Sh650 million) as counterpart funding to the project."
Climate Change mitigation is one of the key focus areas of the Kenya Kwanza administration.
President William Ruto targets to have the country plant at least 15 billion trees across the country in five years.