Rain failure in Kenya sparks fear of hunger

AllAfrica.com, via the Nation (Nairobi, Kenya): More than 170,000 people in Keiyo District are staring starvation in the face following dwindled rainfall in the region early this year. A survey by Nation revealed that most families were facing a maize deficit after exhausting all their stock.

According to the district agriculture officer, Mr Raphael Kittony, the area required 144,000 bags of maize for a year but there are fears that the quantity may not be realised. "The scanty rainfall received in the area is likely to affect the produce adversely," Mr Kittony said.

Presenting his report on the food situation in the district to heads of various departments in Iten, Mr Kittony revealed that out of 15,000 hectares that was supposed to be prepared for planting this year, only 8,000 was tilled. He attributed the trend to the price of fuel, which had been sky-rocketing in the past three months....

1979 at Lake Turkana in Kenya, shot by Robin Alasdair Frederick Hutton from Perth, Western Australia, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License