The Kenyan government has raised an alarm that about 1.6 million may require food assistance due to a looming drought in the arid and semi-arid (ASAL) areas in this East African nation.

 

 

 About 20 out of 47 counties will require drought mitigation measures to avert crisis if the short rains fail, reported Xinhua citing deputy president William Ruto in a statement issued Friday after he chaired a government meeting on food security here. 

 

 "It was learnt that close to 20 counties required drought mitigation measures. If short rains fail, 1.6 million people could require food aid," he added. 

 

 The meeting brought together the council of governors and senior government officials to discuss the impending drought and urgent intervention measures to mitigate its impact in a country with a population of about 44 million.

 

 "The National Government and Governors agreed to jointly address issues of food security, water, livestock and health," the statement said. The ministry of devolution and planning will share drought information with the county governments to help them with drought preparedness, response and resilience.

 

 They also agreed that governors should avail suitable storage facilities for the provision of food and fertiliser by the ministries of agriculture, livestock and fisheries.