The recent heavy rains that led to flooding in some parts of the country will have major impacts on food production, the National Drought Management Authority has said.
In its monthly report, NDMA said heavy rains mainly in Northern Kenya, had left a trail of destruction. It said farms were flooded, animals swept away, families displaced and infrastructure ruined.
“Negative impacts of the enhanced rainfall in some counties have undermined the food and nutrition security situation and seen more families affected in the Asal counties,” the authority said.
The authority has said the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance is likely to rise from the current Sh1.5 million.
The state agency said, however, all the 23 Asal counties had fully recovered from the two-year drought that left hundreds of livestock dead and many families in need of support.
The authority said the majority of the arid and semi-arid counties experienced rainfall in the last two months though with reduced intensity.
“All the counties were categorised under the normal drought phase based on the range of indicators monitored,” the authority said.
Among areas that experienced near-normal rainfall ranging from 90 to 115 per cent, according to NDMA, were Voi, Meru and Kitui.
“The highest monthly total rainfall exceeding 225mm was recorded in Embu and Taita Taveta counties,” the agency said.
“Isolated storms were witnessed, especially in the south eastern marginal agriculture cluster such as Kitui, where rainfall ranging from 125 to 135mm was recorded in one day.”
On vegetation conditions, the authority noted that significant improvement was witnessed across all Asal counties, with dense canopies reported due to the cumulative rainfall.
“Consequently, all the counties presented either normal or above normal vegetation greenness and this was a notable improvement from the previous period,” the report reads.
And with vegetation improvising, more than 50 per cent of the Asal counties recorded an increase in milk production.
“However, Samburu, Lamu and West Pokot counties reported a decline in milk production, which is attributed to livestock diseases and diminishing pasture,” NDMA said.
“Increase in milk production in 61 per cent of the counties could be attributed to the increasing number of lactating herds and improved yield level per livestock occasioned by forage and water availability within shorter trekking distances.”