Thursday April 20, 2023
NAIROBI, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations on Wednesday launched a 2-million-U.S.-dollar drought mitigation program in Kenya, Uganda, and Djibouti.
David Phiri, the FAO Subregional coordinator for Eastern Africa and FAO representative to the African Union (AU), said the program will reach close to 100,000 most vulnerable people in the three countries.
"The project will target drought-affected herders and agro-pastoralists experiencing high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition in Djibouti, Kenya, and Uganda. The interventions will combine cash and livelihood packages to provide immediate relief allowing poor households to meet their food and nutrition, water and health needs," he said during a virtual press conference.
Fallou Gueye, an FAO representative in Djibouti, said the drought situation in the country has deteriorated with the number of those who are food insecure rising significantly and malnutrition is at alarming levels.
In Kenya, some 30,000 people will benefit from the program, said Joseph Mathooko, the FAO coordinator of the Emergency Preparedness and Response Unit. "We will target households in Baringo and Samburu counties with cash transfers, animal feeds, and animal health services," he added.
In Uganda, over 45,000 people in the troubled Karamoja region will be assisted by the program, said Micheal Lokiru, FAO programs officer in Karamoja, Uganda.
The FAO said each of the targeted households in the three countries would receive between 50 U.S. dollars and 60 U.S. dollars monthly to mitigate the effects of drought.
Some 47 million people in the greater Horn of Africa, which also includes Ethiopia and Somalia, are still highly food insecure, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, after four failed rainy seasons.