Marsabit County drought early warning bulletin for April 2017

Biophysical Indicators

Rainfall report: 124.2 mm and 62 mm of rainfall was recorded at Marsabit and Moyale stations respectively.

Vegetation condition; Pasture and browse condition is poor in pastoral livelihood zone and fair to poor in Agro pastoral livelihood zone.

Socio Economic Indicators (Impact Indicators)

Production indicators; an average of 0.5 litres per household was produced in households which reported milk production. Slight improvement in milk production is noted in Saku and Moyale. Livestock body condition is fair in agro pastoral livelihood zone and fair to poor in pastoral livelihood for all the species except camels which have fair to good body condition across the County.

Livestock deaths as a result of drought and erratic rains have been reported.

Access indicators; Cost of water (20 litres) is within normal ranges of Ksh 0-5. Milk consumption has slightly improved due to increased production. Terms of trade remained unchanged at 44.7 Return distance to water sources for human was 2.5 km and above the normal ranges.

Utilization Indicators; children less than 5 years at risk of malnutrition was 19%. Coping strategies index has stabilized at 20.1 although it is above the normal ranges.