Marsabit County drought early warning bulletin for May 2017

Biophysical Indicators

Rainfall: Moyale Township and Marsabit Central rainfall stations received rainfall of 157.1mm and 50.2mm respectively. The cumulative rainfall for Marsabit rainfall station amounts to only 66.5% of the normal for the same period.

Vegetation condition: Vegetation condition index gradually improved to 14.73 in May from 10.52 in April. Pasture and browse is fair-good in Agro-pastoral zone while poor-fair in Pastoral livelihood zone.

Socio Economic Indicators (Impact Indicators)

Production indicators: Livestock body condition was fair in Agropastoral zone while poor-fair in Pastoral zone except camel which is fair-good across the livelihood zones. Milk production per household was 1.6Litres improved mainly in Moyale and Saku but still outside the normal range. Migration of livestock is generally unusual.

No cases of livestock deaths attributed to drought reported.

Access indicators: Household water distances have declined and are within the normal ranges. Terms of trade improved from 45 to 60 due to improved goat prices but still outside the normal range by a 20% margin. Milk consumption improved due to improved milk production.

Utilization indicators: Children rated at risk of malnutrition slightly reduced to 18.7 but still outside the normal range of below 17.9. Food consumption score improved while coping strategy index declined. All the utilization indicators were outside the normal ranges.