These people were not able to meet their minimum food requirements in the coming six
months (September 2008 to February 2009) without external support.
This number included an estimated 300,000 people mainly internally displaced persons
(IDPs) who still required assistance as they continue to resettle and leave transit camps.
In order to ensure that the affected areas and people were taken care of. the Government had
planned to enhance ongoing shot-term sectoral mitigation interventions. In this regard, the
Government required about Kshs.3.8 billion to effectively intervene and target this vulnerable
populations for a six months period. The Government was working in partnership with other
stakeholders including the UN, NGO's and Development Partners through the existing
collaboration structures such as the Kenya Food Security Meeting (KFSM) and the Kenya
Food Security Steering Group (KFSSG).
Lastly the Government removed cognizant that medium to long term interventions needed to
be pursued concurrently with these short term intervention in order to solve the underlying
problems of food insecurity especially in the arid and semi arid areas of the country (KFSSG).
Kinango is one of the thirteen districts in the Coast province. It borders Taita district to the
North West Kilifi to the North Kwale to the South East and Msambweni to the South. The
district is located second to the South Eastern corner of Kenya lying between latitudes 3°3'
and 4°45' south of longitudes 38°31' and 39°31' east. The district has a surface area of 4,008
km2
Kinango is one of the poorest districts in Kenya with absolute poverty levels of approximately
20% above the national average. According to the poverty reduction paper, Kinango district
has over 32% of its population as food insecure and above 40% in the absolute poverty
category (District Coordinating Unit 2009). Unreliable and erratic rainfall, poor farming
practices and low livestock holding capacity have been identified as the underlying factors
rendering households highly vulnerable to food insecurity. Crop yields particularly for the
stable maize crop are generally low and often below one tone per hectare. The annual maize
harvests last most of the households up to a maximum of three months after thereby rendering
the households being dependent on other sources.
5
