With their weak livestock unable to fetch any market due to drought, residents of Ganze in Kilifi County have now resorted to slaughter their livestock as drought continues to bite.
Even with a promise from the national government that it will intervene to buy their livestock, they are slaughtering them because a cow hardly fetches Sh1,000 at the market currently.
The locals say they are losing their animals in big numbers hence the move to slaughter them.
Some of the hardest hit areas include Mryachakwe, Mitsedzini, Ngite, Mafingoni, Migodomani, Katsungini. Going around this region, one is met by carcasses of cattle, a smell of rotten meat that welcomes anyone to the village.
At Thithima village in Mryachakwe area journalists came across a family that had slaughtered a cow that was in its dying stages and decided to dry the meat under the sun to eat it on a later date.
One of the residents Mr Karisa Muhambi said the drought had really affected them as their livestock was dying at an alarming rate.
Mr Muhambi said he had lost seven cows and the eighth one died that morning but they decided to skin it and dry the meat as a preservation measure.
“We are drying the meat so that it becomes a meal later, there are 20 cows left but we have not got any support we urge the government to intervene and give us food and livestock feeds to prevent them from dying,” he said.
He said they have been able to get three kilos per household from the relief food which is being given by the government including rice, beans, and maize.
Currently, he said many children do not go to school because of the famine adding that at his home there are 15 children who are still at home.
Acording to Kazungu Kenga from Mafingoni village in Mitsedzini sub-location, he had 26 cows but all died and is left with only 11 because of drought.
He said water is very scarce and the cattle have to go for over 15 kilometers at Ngite village to get water.
“My cattle are dying at a very alarming rate and do not know if the remaining ones will survive,” he said.
Kenga said he wanted to sell some of his cows to take his son to university but the a sale agent told him he could not pay even Sh1,500 per cow as the animals are very weak.
He said they are forced to buy food in shops which cost sh. 110 and at times it is difficult to get the cash leaving them without food.
“If you have the money you go to as far as Tezo in Kakanjuni but if you are poor your animals will die. We are calling upon the government to come and drill boreholes,” he said.
it is the same narrative for Naomi Kaingu from Ngite village who said she initially had 13 cows but 11 died and is left with only two which are also in a bad state due to the drought.
Mr Kaingu said she decided to slaughter the cattle which died last night and plans to sell it at a throw-away price so as to get money for food.
We found her at Ngite Water pan the only one which still has water in the area trying to carry the meat and take it home.
“We have no food, water is a major problem, the livestock are finished, this one I will take it home and sell it at sh. 50 or Sh. 100 if people will buy,” she said.
Mr Kaingu said they got three kilograms of relief food which was distributed at Vitengeni.
a livestock keeper Mr Ponda Chome from Migodomani said a cow that once traded at Sh15,000 cant now go beyond Sh1,000 in price because they are very weak.
“We are appealing to the government to come and begin an off take program buy the livestock from the farmers,” he said.
Jumwa Chengo from Katsungini village in Madeteni area said she lost over 20 cattle as they had to go for over 15 kilometers to get water in Ngite.
She said the area has no grass completely and the cattle are eating only grass which is the one causing deaths.
“We have no water at all some of the water pans are damaged and even if it rains they will not hold water, now the government can only bring water to help us during these difficult times,” she said.
Kenya Red Cross Society Coast regional Manager Hassan Musa said out of the six coastal counties four have been highly affected including Kilifi, Kwale, and Lamu.
He said in Tanariver for example, there are 107,000 people affected while Kilifi has 145,000 people with Lamu, adding that Kwale and Lamu have 135,000 and over 20,000 affected.
So far he said 6500 cows have died in Kilifi and over 4000 others died in Tanariver County and that the number could be more due to the drought situation.
“We are also experiencing a huge number of deaths in Lamu, most of the cows we lost belong to pastoralists from, Garissa and North Eastern who are looking for pasture, the situation is deteriorating day by day as there is no rain expected soon,’ he said.
Mr Musa said they have identified 7,500 households in Kilifi to be supported with cash transfers and will get Sh5, 500 for the next two months.
In Tanariver the said 500 households will get relief food adding that in Boni forest 1,000 households got relief food.
The regional manager said the solution is to begin a cash transfer program as people will be able to choose what kind of food to buy.
Musa said less than 20 percent of the water pans have water and it is not fit for human consumption.
