Although President Uhuru Kenyatta's plan to make Kenya a food-secure country requires long-term investment projects, the head of state has started rolling out short-term measures to help people facing hunger now.
The Ministry of Devolution and Planning has already released three million bags of maize to counties that are facing hunger, which are predominantly controlled by Raila Odinga's NASA coalition.
About 90,000 bags of rice are set to be sent to Kwale, Kilifi, Kajiado, Ukambani, Wajir and Garissa counties in the coming days, according to Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa. He said those counties need urgent relief.
The short-term intervention measure comes at a time 3.4 million Kenyans face a shortage of food and water, due to prolonged drought.
President Kenyatta has already listed food security, alongside healthcare, affordable housing and manufacturing, as part of his Big Four Agenda during his second term.
Projects worth billions of shillings meant to facilitate irrigation and lead to the production of sufficient food are already underway. Some of them include the Sh20 billion Thiba Dam in Kirinyaga County, the Sh24 billion Karemenu Dam in Gatundu North, the Sh17 billion Ruiru Dam among others spread across the country.