The government will provide livestock feeds to farmers in Wajir County who are affected by the drought being experienced in North Eastern.
South Wajir Habaswein based Livestock Production Officer Julius Mwangi said the measures put in place are to ensure that the suffering brought about by the current situation is minimized.
Mwangi said livestock in the county for the past three months have undergone a lot of strain due to lack of water and pasture.
He said both national and county governments are working together to assist the affected families in the region by encouraging them to sell off their livestock which are in dire condition.
The officer said the programme launched by the government through the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) is buying weak and emaciated animals from herders in a programme designed to mitigate the effects of the ongoing drought.
“Currently, the body conditions of livestock in livelihood zones range from fair to poor, with most of the livestock species having emaciated bodies with thin and visible skins,” he said.
“The body condition of all species have deteriorated due to the prolonged dry spell since water, pasture and browse have been depleted,” he added.
Wajir National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) County Director Ahmed Hassan said measures introduced by the government to mitigate the effects of drought also involves up scaling of provision of livestock feeds, fodder production, conservation and utilisation campaigns.
“It involves provision of 100,000 tonnes of livestock feed to core breeding herds in the County. The government is also buying frail animals from farmers then slaughtering and the meat distributed to drought affected families,” said Mr Hassan.