Attachments
Executive Summary
The county was classified as ‘None or Minimal’ (IPC Phase I) during the long rains assessment of August 2016 but in the current assessment, the county is classified as ‘Stressed’ (IPC Phase 2). The proportion of households with acceptable food consumption score decreased by 10 percent compared with the last season pointing to a decline in household dietary diversity and food frequency. The mean coping strategy score increased by 62 percent in the current season compared with last season, implying that households are engaging in consumption-related coping strategies more frequently and employing severe coping strategies more often. Consequently, the proportion of households at risk of mal-nutrition increased by 23 percent compared with last season. The proportion of household maize stocks declined by 27 percent of LTA compared with last season which was attributed to depletion of household stocks and the reported 90 percent crop failure. Current livestock body condition deteriorated from good to fair and poor compared with last season resulting in diminished household milk production and consumption due to water scarcity, long return trekking distances to water sources, forage depletion and early livestock migration. The Terms of Trade deteriorated by 14 percent in the current season compared with previous season and were unfavourable to livestock producers. However, a sharp increase by 35 percent of LTA was recorded in January 2017, which was attributed to undersupply of livestock. The current household water consumption per person per day declined by over 50 percent especially in the pastoral and agro-pastoral areas compared with last season indicating deterioration in household food utilization. The trend is expected to deteriorate further with the progressing dry spell, where water and forage scarcity for livestock and domestic water remained very critical during the period under review. The current factors affecting food security include: late onset and low amounts of rainfall which negatively affected water and forage situation thus triggering early livestock migration hence a decline in household milk production and consumption.