About 740 vulnerable families in Laikipia North Sub County have benefitted with relief food to cushion them from the ongoing drought situation in the area. Kenya Red Cross Society Laikipia County Coordinator Bilhah Nguru speaking during a distribution exercise said they had received the donation of 16,928 kilograms of Maize flour, 3400 kilograms beans and 340 kilograms of cooking fat from Nairobi Parklands Rotary club, and the food assortment was expected to last the beneficiaries for a period of 21 days. ‘Kenya Red Cross Society has distributed food to vulnerable residents of Mukogodo and Makurian locations. We have reached out to a total of 740 households and each has benefited with maize flour, beans and cooking fat,’ revealed Ms Nguru. She revealed that those who received the food packages were the targeted vulnerable families, drought stricken and affected by banditry related conflicts. Ms Nguru appealed to well-wishers to join hands and support the affected families in the area, noting lactating mothers, elderly, disabled, windows and widowers were the worst hit by drought. ‘We hope to continue supporting vulnerable households in the county based on the availability of funds and targeting is done through community-based targeting methods and coordinated by local administration to help identify needy cases,’ she said. She further pointed out that the drought situation in the county has continued to worsen over the last several months leaving people and livestock in devastating situations. Meanwhile, according to the assessment conducted by the National Drought Management Authority in the county for the month of February 2023, the number of those in need of food aid had moved from 183,000 to about 250,000 people.
Source: Kenya News Agency