EMERGENCY SITUATION IN KENYA

Emergency Situation in Kenya



Emergency Situation in Kenya

Introduction:

The present emergency situation in Kenya is as a result of the unfortunate event or crisis linked to the drought and rainfall pattern which affects the productivity of food in the country thus causing a deteriorating food security condition in Kenya. The term food security is defined as when all the people, at all times have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preference for an active and healthy life (World food summit,1996).The question is why are people food insecure? Food insecurity is as a result of so many factors such as poverty, health, water and environment, gender-equity, conflict and disaster, population and urbanization and trade affects the population of a particular country. According to the FAO, 2009 the estimates of undernourished people worldwide is at 1.02 billion in 2009 (CBS 2002). In Dadaab Kenya, over 160,000 refugees from different neighboring countries such as Somalia, Sudan, Congo, Uganda, etc due to crisis are being housed. The essence of these assignment is to assess the food security situation in Dadaab refugee camp Kenya and the factors that affect or that is influencing food security in that area, survival strategies which the people are applying in other to survive and the existing intervention going on. (Food and Agriculture Organization, 1996).

THE MAP OF KENYA



Background:

Kenya is a low income food deficit country with a population of 37.2million of which 80% live in the rural area while the rest are divided in the arid and semi arid area and cannot meet their daily food requirement (Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, 2009). The country suffers from large population growth of refugee, poverty, high incidence of HIV/AIDS and food security (WFP 2008). According to UNDP 2008, Kenya ranks 144th of 179 countries on the human development index and its GDP per capita are US$650. Their land is made up of an arid and semi-arid with rampant climatic outbreaks, poverty and food insecurity (World Food Summit 1996). Dadaab, in which the refugee camp is situated, is a town in Garissa district, north eastern province of Kenya which is approximately 100km from Kenya-Somali border. The camp houses over 160,000 refugees from neighboring communities such as Somali which has about 97% of the total number of people in the camp. The population in Dadaab is made up of mostly those looking after livestock such as camel and goat (UNDP, 2008).

In Dadaab, Droughts and rain fall pattern have worked hand in hand to cause crop failure on a large scale in the agricultural food basket (UNDP 2008). Thereby causing the town to suffer severe drought for almost four (4) years and these was seen to kill about 50% of the local livestock, and causing an economic strain in the region. These years of inadequate rainfall has lead to about 40% reduction on production of food compared to the normal quantity expected thus leading to about ...