Investment

Plant Drought-Resistant Crops as Drought Looms

BY Jane Muia · August 29, 2022 04:08 pm

KEY POINTS

Temperatures in Northern Kenya have climbed by 0.34°C per decade between 1985 and 2015 and have been rising even further over the years. Heatwaves in the coming five decades are likely to increase in length by between 9 and 30 days.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Kenya highly depends on agriculture and 98 percent of the country’s agriculture is rain-fed. The National Drought Management Authority (NDMA), warned that the number of people suffering from food insecurity in Kenya would increase to 4.35 million by October 2022, from the current 4.1 million.

Scientists now want farmers to plant drought-resistant crops as the country is expected to receive lower levels of rainfall during the months of October, November, and December. This will be the fifth season in a row that the rains will be failing to meet traditional expectations.

“We have never experienced a worst La Nina situation like this one we are about to witness, this will be the worst for the past 50 years,” Kenya Meteorological Department deputy director in charge of Climate Services, Dr. David Gikungu said during the 62nd IGAD Forum in Mombasa.

The situation will be unbearable for millions of Kenyans, especially in the northern parts of the country who are already battling the effects of climate change. It is expected to worsen in parts of Africa including Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

“Climate forecast for the October to December rainy season 2022, indicates that the greater Horn of Africa is bracing for a fifth consecutive failed season. The drought is expected in regions of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia,” stated IGAD Climate Predictions and Applications Center (ICPAC) director Guleid Artan.

Similarly, 95 percent of arid and semi-arid lands are expected to be severely dry, indicating tougher times ahead for pastoralists and subsistence farmers.

The worst drought in decades is gripping Kenya’s Northeastern region; parching landscapes, killing livestock, and creating a humanitarian crisis. Driven by climate change, it’s also leading to civil strife, as shepherding communities battle each other for scarce resources.

The impact of the persistent drought in the region continues to bite people, their livelihoods, and wildlife following the failure of the short and long rainy seasons in 2021.

The Northern part specifically, Marsabit, Isiolo, Wajir, Samburu, Baringo, Turkana, and Mandera, has been hit hard by the drought and the people are now calling for support.

According to the US government data, temperatures in Northern Kenya have climbed by 0.34°C per decade between 1985 and 2015 and have been rising even further over the years. Heatwaves in the coming five decades are likely to increase in length by between 9 and 30 days.