Baringo County 2014 Short Rains Food Security Assessment Report
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BARINGO COUNTY 2014 SHORT RAINS FOOD SECURITY ASSESSMENT REPORT A Joint Report by the Kenya Food Security Steering Group (KFSSG)1 and the Baringo County Steering Group February 2015 1 Jackson Matheka - Ministry of Health and Geoffrey Kimathi - UN World Food Programme i Table of Contents 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 County Background ............................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Current Factors Affecting Food Security ............................................................................ 1 2 County Food Security Situation .......................................................................................... 2 2.1 Current Food Security Situation ......................................................................................... 2 2.2 Food Security Trends .......................................................................................................... 2 2.3 Rainfall Performance .......................................................................................................... 3 2.4 Current Shocks and Hazards ............................................................................................... 3 3 Impact of Rainfall Performance on Shocks and Hazards ................................................. 3 3.1 Crop Production .................................................................................................................. 3 3.2 Livestock Production .......................................................................................................... 5 3.3 Water and Sanitation ........................................................................................................... 7 3.4 Markets and Trade .............................................................................................................. 8 3.5 Health and Nutrition ......................................................................................................... 10 3.6 Education .......................................................................................................................... 12 3.7 Coping Mechanisms.......................................................................................................... 13 3.8 Current Interventions ........................................................................................................ 13 3.9 Sub County Ranking ......................................................................................................... 15 4 Food Security Prognosis ..................................................................................................... 15 4.1 Prognosis Assumptions ..................................................................................................... 15 4.2 Food Security Outcomes from March to May .................................................................. 15 4.3 Food Security Outcomes from June to August ................................................................. 15 5 Conclusion and Recommendations ................................................................................... 16 5.1 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 16 5.2 Summary of Recommendations ........................................................................................ 16 6 Annexes ................................................................................................................................ 17 6.1 Food Interventions Required............................................................................................. 17 6.2 Annex I: Non-food Interventions Proposed ...................................................................... 17 ii 1 Introduction 1.1 County Background Baringo County borders Turkana and Samburu Counties to the North, Laikipia to the East, Nakuru and Kericho to the South, Uasin Pastoral livelihood zone Gishu to the South West, and 31% Elgeyo - Marakwet and West 43% Agro pastoral livelihood Pokot to the West. The County zone covers an area of 11,015.3 square Irrigated agriculture kilometres (Km²) with an livelihood zone estimated population of 555,561 Mixed farming livelihood persons (Kenya National Bureau of zone Statistics, 2009 census report). The 22% County includes 165 Km² of Lake 4% Baringo, Lake Bogoria and Lake Kamnarok and Lake 94. Figure 1: Population distribution by livelihood zone The County has a bimodal rainfall pattern with the long rains season occurring in March to May and short rains season from August to November. Temperatures range from 10 degrees in the Tugen highlands to 37 degrees in the lowlands with the hottest months being January to early March. The district is divided into four livelihood zones (LZ) namely, Mixed Farming, Pastoral, Agro Pastoral and Irrigated Cropping. The proportion of the population in each livelihood is 43, 31, 22 and 4 percent respectively as seen in Figure 1. The County has an altitude ranging from 800 metres in the low lands to 3000 metres in the highlands and receives an annual rainfall of 500 millimetres (mm) in the lowlands and up to 1,500 mm in the highlands around Kabartonjo, Kabarnet, Sacho and Barwessa divisions which cover 20 percent of the County. Administratively the County is divided into six sub-counties namely: Mogotio, Baringo North, Baringo Central, East Pokot, Koibatek, and Marigat. 1.2 Current Factors Affecting Food Security The current factors affecting food security in the County are as follows: Crop pests and diseases especially Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease (MLND) across the County and postharvest losses due to weevils and larger grain borer. Conflicts which lead to closure of markets and displacement of population especially in pastoral livelihood zones of Tiaty and Baringo South Sub County. Poor infrastructure. Communal land tenure systems in the marginal mixed farming and agro pastoral zones. Inadequate farm machinery during land preparation and planting. Unpredictable and unreliable changes in seasons. 1 2 County Food Security Situation 2.1 Current Food Security Situation Pastoral, large areas of agro-pastoral and parts of the mixed farming livelihoods are classified as stressed (IPC Food Insecurity Phase 2). Mixed and the irrigated cropping areas are classified as none or minimal phase. Despite good performance of the short rainfall within the County which has led to improvement of pasture and browse condition as well as body conditions of most livestock species, thus improving the terms of trade, the pastoral and agro-pastoral zones are faced with outbreaks of livestock diseases such as foot and mouth disease (FMD) which has led to closure of some markets. Insecurity incidences are also prevalent in these areas hence limiting household access to food as well as disrupting other socio-economic activities. Pastoral areas have also recorded the lowest water consumption of between 8 - 12 litres per person per day (lpppd). Consumption of milk is low in agro-pastoral and pastoral zones averaging between 0.5 - 1.5 liters per household. The percentage of children at risk of malnutrition based on Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) was 17.6 in January 2015, which was within the five year average of 17.4 percent. Most of the food stocks held within the county are in the mixed farming zone with more than 50 percent of the stocks. In the irrigated cropping, farmers have substantial income from seed maize. In the mixed farming zones, families sell about 1.5 litres of milk and consume 1litre at the household level. Markets in these zones are still operational. 2.2 Food Security Trends The food security situation has improved from crisis to stressed phase in parts of the pastoral zone compared to six months ago. The rest of the pastoral and agro-pastoral areas have remained stressed and a few areas of the mixed farming livelihood zone have moved to minimal from the stressed phase six months ago. Current total maize stocks in the County are 56 percent of normal, a reduction from 79 percent after the 2014 long rains season. The terms of trade have improved to 56 kilograms (Kg) of maize per sale of one goat compared to 28 Kg, six months ago. Water consumption has improved from 3 – 6, 5 – 9, 6 – 10 to 8 – 10, 15 – 20 and above 20 lpppd in the pastoral, agro pastoral and mixed and irrigated cropping livelihood zones respectively. The nutrition status of children under the age of five years based on Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) has remained stable. Trends of the children at risk of malnutrition (MUAC <135mm) declined from July 2014 to January 2015 although malnutrition rates (GAM) increased from poor to critical levels in the pastoral areas of East Pokot Sub-county. 2 2.3 Rainfall Performance The County received off season rains between August and September. The onset of the short rains was timely with rains occurring in the first dekad of October 2014 and substantial amount occurring in the second dekad the month. Most of the county received normal to above normal rains. Some parts in the northern and eastern areas of the county received 140 -200 percent of normal while two pockets in Kabartonjo and Kolowa received 60 – 75 percent of normal. Spatial distribution was even while temporal distribution was good. Cessation was normal in the first week of January. 2.4 Current Shocks and Hazards The current shocks and hazards