Esther Wahome, the cabinet secretary for water, sanitation, and irrigation, and Mithika Linturi, her counterpart on the docket for agriculture and livestock development, have provided details on how the government intends to use the Ksh. 10 billion in cash donated by the private sector to solve drought issues.
Tuesday, Wahome stated on Citizen TV’s News Night Show that the monies would be used by President William Ruto’s government to mitigate the short-term consequences of the drought in the 29 drought-affected counties.
She stated that the funds will be utilized to handle the water issues, purchase food for both people and animals, as well as medical supplies for adults and children who were undernourished.
In addition to creating new ponds, it will be used to restore old ones. An undertaking that can be completed in a month or two weeks is the digging up or development of existing ponds. That will be among the things, according to Wahome.
“…for repairing current and new boreholes…you may have a borehole in two days, then give interim water storage, and there would be medication for kids and people since they are weak. Food, dietary supplements, and animal purchases.
The CS further noted that as a long-term strategy to end poverty by boosting agricultural productivity, the State was concentrating on expanding the amount of public land set aside for irrigation.
The overall amount of land development that the government has completed is only 350 acres, according to her, which is a very little amount. “We want to reach 1.8 million acres during the next five years. With the way we are selling it, and with solid investor support, we may develop up to 3 million acres.
The objective, according to CS Linturi, was to secure food for the hard-hit populations across the nation while also saving the animals for the pastoralists by providing water and pastures, reiterating what Wahome had said.
The former senator also mentioned that the ministry and Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) were in discussions so that livestock afflicted by the drought would be purchased from pastoralists in order to decrease animal deaths.
“Our challenge is reducing the amount of water and grass we give to our animals so they don’t perish. How do we find pasture to feed this cow? How do we provide pastoralists supplements? How do we buy the majority of their cows so they don’t perish? And how do we expand the kitty that we give to KMC so we can keep up the off-peak program? These are the urgent concerns, he continued.
Over 300,000 wild and domestic animals have been killed out in this year’s drought disaster, which has been termed the worst in 40 years, while 4.5 million Kenyans are in desperate need of food aid.
On Tuesday, the president of state announced initiatives to raise support funds from Ksh. 2 billion to Ksh. 10 billion is intended to make sure all impacted regions are taken care of.
Be the first to comment