WFP Kenya Rural Resilience Resource Update April 2017

HighlightsThe current food and nutrition insecurity in the semi-arid counties has been mainly caused by the severe agriculture production shortfall resulting from the poor rainfall during the 2016 short rains season (the major agricultural season in these counties). This situation is being exacerbated by the ongoing below-normal rainfall (long rains season).

Due to the very poor food security most communities and households are experiencing, WFP has increased the level of cash transfer from KES 2,000 to KES 2,500 per household per month for all its 333,000 beneficiaries in the five semi-arid counties where asset-creation activities for resilience-building are undertaken. Starting in April, this additional cash transfer should prevent further deterioration of food security and use of negative coping strategies amongst these families.

Unfortunately, currently available resources will allow WFP to provide food assistance only until the end of June. Without further funding, progress on food security and the ability of beneficiaries to transition out of food assistance will be eroded, with the consequence that households revert to negative coping strategies such as selling assets and cutting back on food consumption.

WFP is seeking immediate funding of US$6 million to continue to provide food assistance in the form of cash transfers during July and August.

In the arid counties, where WFP assists 371,000 food insecure people in the eight counties also through asset-creation activities for resilience-building, sufficient resources are available to fill beneficiaries’ food shortage caused by the current drought. Considering the current drought and the high levels of food insecurity, WFP food assistance in the form of food transfers will be continued throughout July and August (normally the post-harvest months). The additional assistance will ensure that resilience-building investments made thus far are not lost through a reversion to negative coping strategies.

© WFP/Martin Karimi

| 1April 2017WFP Kenya | Rural Resilience Resource Update

Asset creation and general distribution (food)Eight-month availability and shortfall

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

1 536 629

3 283 254

3 541 317

3 541 317

3 541 317

3 541 317

3 541 317

2 787 030

25 313 496

2 293 480

258 063

-

-

-

-

-

754 287

3 305 830

2017 Availability(US$)

Shortfalls(US$)

0

2 000 000

1 000 000

3 000 000

5 000 000

4 000 000

Oct

Fund

s in U

S$

NovApr May Aug SepJun Jul2017

Oct

Nov

Total

Asset creation and general distribution (cash)Eight-month availability and shortfall

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

3 021 771

3 021 771

1 967 684

-

-

-

-

-

8 011 227

-

-

1 054 087

3 021 771

3 021 771

3 021 771

3 021 771

3 021 771

16 162 942

2017 Availability(US$)

Shortfalls(US$)

0

1 000 000

2 000 000

3 000 000

4 000 000

Oct

Fund

s in U

S$

NovApr May Aug SepJun Jul2017

Oct

Nov

Total

19.5 million

33.3 million

52.8 million

Resource Shortfalls (US$)

Fund Availability (US$)

Net Requirements (US$)

million33.3

million19.5

Eight-Month Resource Overview (US$)

0

1 000 000

3 000 000

4 000 000

2 000 000

5 000 000

6 000 000

7 000 000

Oct

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

4 558 400

6 305 025

5 509 001

3 541 317

3 541 317

3 541 317

3 541 317

2 787 030

33 324 722

2 293 480

258 063

1 054 087

3 021 771

3 021 771

3 021 771

3 021 771

3 776 058

19 468 772

2017

Fund

s in U

S$

Availability(US$)

Shortfalls(US$)

NovApr May Aug SepJun Jul2017

Oct

Nov

Total

Rural ResilienceEight-month consolidated resource availability and shortfall

Asset Creation and General Distribution (Food)Eight-month availability and shortfall

Asset Creation and General Distribution (Cash)Eight-month availability and shortfall

NOTE

May and June are post-harvest months in the arid counties but

additional requirements have been included to cover the extra distributions aimed at cushioning beneficiaries from the effects of the current drought.

April food requirements are not fully covered.

In-kind food arrivals are expected in May for distribution to asset-creation beneficiaries.

NOTE

July and August are post-harvest months in semi-arid counties

but additional requirements have been included to cover the extra distributions aimed at cushioning beneficiaries from the effects of the current drought.

Resources are available to cover cash asset-creation requirements for April and May.

| 2April 2017WFP Kenya | Rural Resilience Resource Update

| 3April 2017WFP Kenya | Rural Resilience Resource Update

— Continued on Page 4 —

KENYA | April 2017

How Irrigated Farming is Changing Lives in Kenya

Farmers at Moruese irrigation scheme with their maize. © WFP/Martin Karimi

The lives of over 500 families living in the village of Moruese in Turkana have been significantly improved

thanks to donor support to WFP. Where previously, in years of erratic rains, total crop failure was the norm, now, even with temperatures soaring to 37° Celsius, the lush green crops of maize, sorghum and vegetables stand defiantly.

Through its resilience-building activities, WFP has been supporting the Moruese community to develop an irrigation system for crop production. At the end of 2015, the community started clearing farm land along the River Turkwell for irrigation, and a little over a year later the scheme is changing the face of food security in this once hunger-ravaged village.

The Moruese scheme draws water from the River Turkwell through gravity. With joint planning between WFP, REGAL-IR and the Kenyan Government, a former canal running from the river to the farm land was lined with concrete and cement to reduce loss of water through seepage. Then, just over a year ago, WFP supported the community to begin the hard work of clearing bushes, digging smaller irrigation

canals and removing silt from the main canal. As a result, the community is now into its third successful harvest.

“We are advanced now. We can call ourselves a digital generation, no longer analogue,” said Peter Lapaoi, chairman of the revived Moruese irrigation scheme. “When we look and see the healthy crop growing on the farms, we feel great.”

A new age “With access to water for irrigation,

we are food secure,” explained Esther Ekai, who works on the project. “Previously, whenever the rains failed, as we are experiencing now, we would simply go hungry. Right now, we would have been feeding our children on wild fruits. We are living in a new age.”

In Turkana County, WFP is directly supporting 91,000 people who are working on a wide range of resilience-building activities with food entitlements, 1,200 of whom are in the Moruese irrigation scheme. The scheme irrigates 100 ha of land and has the potential to expand. Each family farms 0.2 ha and produces between 400 and 600 kgs of cereals – mostly maize or sorghum – as well as cowpeas and

groundnuts, twice a year. That harvest is valued at around 50,000 Kenyan shillings (US$500) every year.

“A year ago, this field was a thicket. It is fulfilling to know that today, hundreds of families get their food and income from this farm,” said Annalisa Conte, WFP Kenya Country Director. “We are proud to have contributed to this transformation.”

Families farming in Moruese are able to produce food even during the poor rainfall seasons, and therefore are coping well with the current drought.

“This time round, we haven’t lost any animals to the drought,” said Peter Lapaoi. “Those days are behind us. We feed our animals with the grass and stalks from the farm. Today, all of us here can afford to give our children a full meal every day.”

RESILIENCE

Rural Resilience |

Source: WFP Food Security Situation #5. 27/3/17

A story worth telling!

1The below average performance of the short

rains season culminated in a second successive poor season in most arid and semi-arid areas.

2Some 2.6 million people are facing acute food

insecurity and are in need of assistance. Of this, 2.2 million people have reached crisis level and above.

3The start of the long rains season in coastal and

western Kenya is delayed. The performance of rainfall in the rest of the county is so far inconclusive.

4 In pastoral areas, livestock body conditions

are worsening and increased livestock mortalities are expected throughout April, compromising household purchasing power and access to food.

5 In southeast and coastal marginal farming areas,

households are increasingly relying on coping strategies such as purchasing food on credit and reducing expenses on healthcare, and they may begin the sale of productive assets.

Quick Facts |

Building productive assets to transform livelihoods

WFP is working with more than 700,000 men and women across 15 arid and semi-arid counties in Kenya to establish and improve productive rural assets, with the aim of assisting communities to become more resilient to the effects of drought.

The communities take the lead in selecting activities that would improve their families’ food security, especially during the dry periods. These has included developing irrigation schemes and water pans and planting trees.

WFP provides food or cash transfers to the families to support them as they work

on the community project and, together with partners, provides technical skills and working tools to the community.

Strong partnerships The Moruese scheme is supported by

the Turkana County Government, which supplies farm inputs and technical advice to the farmers.

WFP gives farm tools and food rations as well as technical assistance to the families working on the scheme.

Child Fund, a non-governmental orga-nization, is working closely with WFP on the project.

COMMODITY PRICE CHARTS |

If you would like more information, please contact: randall.purcell@wfp.org or charisse.tillman@wfp.org in the Kenya office.

AustraliaCanadaDenmarkEuropean Commission

FinlandGermanyItalyJapan

KenyaLuxembourgMultilateralNorway

Private DonorsRussian FederationSweden

List of Donors in Alphabetical Order (Since 2011: PRRO 200294 and PRRO 200736)

| 4April 2017WFP Kenya | Rural Resilience Resource Update

Maize prices in arid and semi-arid retail markets

Maize prices have sharply increased in the southeast and coastal marginal areas of Kenya and are 20 to 40 percent more than the 5-year average. Source: Kenya State Department of Agriculture

Continued from Page 3

SwitzerlandUN CERFUnited States of America