Hunger Strikes 1.5 Million Kenyans As Locusts, Covid-19 Bite

By Clinton Ochieng

The Global Hunger Report gives Kenya a score of 23.7, the scores range between 0-100, with countries with lower figures having low levels of hunger. This lists Kenya among 40 countries with a serious risk of hunger.

By that score, Kenya, and much of the world is behind the objective to eradicate hunger by 2030 according to the Vision 2030 target.

A new report says some 1.5 million Kenyans are facing an acute food shortage that has been worsened by Covid-19, climate change, and locust invasion.

According to the 2020 Global Hunger Index, 2020 which gives a score based on data on child undernutrition, child mortality, and inadequate food supply to evaluating progress and obstacles in combating hunger, Kenya is ranked 84th out of 107, behind Algeria, Egypt, South Africa, Ghana, Senegal, Gambia, Gabon, Namibia, and Cameroon that have moderate levels of hunger while Eswatini, Mali, Malawi, Botswana, and Benin have a serious level of hunger but better scores than Kenya.

The lesser the score, the lower the hunger levels are in the country. At 23.7, Kenya’s level of hunger score is above the global average of 18.2.

Child mortality looks at the percentage of children who die before the age of five, while undernutrition figures show the percentage of children under five who suffer from wasting or low weight for height and percentage of children under five who suffer from stunting or low height for age.

The hunger level in the country increased in 2020 from 23.2 in 2019, which the report attributes to conspiratorial factors of Covid-19 and locust invasion.

Welthungerhilfe (WHH) the organization that produces the annual reports says increasing support for smallholder farmers to become more sustainable, improving access to agricultural inputs and extension services, strengthening local and regional markets will boost food security.