ICBN: Governor Kuti Reveals 'Major Plans To Combat Malnutrition In Partnership With USAID-Kenya'

Governor Kuti giving his keynote address at a consultative conference organized by the USAID-Kenya.

Isiolo County Governor Dr. Mohamed Abdi Kuti has revealed plans to roll out major plans to roll out a program that targets to eradicate malnutrition in four(4) counties namely Isiolo,Marsabit,Samburu and Turkana.

He revealed the plans while attending a consultative meeting organized by the USAID-Kenya on the development of food security and nutrition.

USAID-Kenya official addressing the delegates where he detailed plans to eradicate malnutrition and strengthen food security in four(4) counties.

The program is set to be funded to a tune of Kes 18 Billion by the USAID-Kenya over a period of time which ICBN is yet establish.

Food security has been a challenge particularly to Isiolo which spends millions of Kenyan shillings on relief food whenever drought or other natural calamities hit. Only a couple of weeks ago, the county spent a total of Kes 160M to facilitate relief food to locals who were hit by floods in Iresaboru and other areas where the effect of the prolonged drought was taking a toll on the human population residing there with near-starvation cases have been reported.

Delegates following the proceedings during a consultative meeting organized by the USAID-Kenya.

It is not yet known what the nittygritties of the plans are as the details are yet to be released to the public. However, implementation is expected to start in earnest  according to information we have received from reliable sources.

For Isiolo county, the program is mainly believed to fund agricultural projects and irrigation along the Waso Nyiro river with an aim to establish a sustainable food supply chain. 

As nomadic pastoralism is becoming increasingly unsustainable with the onset of climate change making most rangelands barren and unable to sustain the herds of livestock in the capacity it used to before, it is expected that the program will attempt to woo pastoralists to choose a sedentary lifestyle and (perhaps) transition to farming while offering them(pastoralists) the relevant start up support needed for such a venture.

Another scenario our pundits have been able to deduce is that a part of the funds will target a school feeding program targeting schools in the four counties 'which has been the ''go-to'' plan for most sponsors targeting malnutrition eradication',quips one of our pundits when we reached out to him over USAID-Kenya's ambitious plans.

Pundits further reiterated that they hope the program 'shall be implemented accordingly and for the targeted population to be involved fully in every step of the way as failure to do so has been a key recipe for failure judging from past undertakings of the same nature that haven't borne fruit because the implementing authorities overlooked the importance of involving the primary subjects of the program'.

ICBN shall keep you in the loop regarding any development(s) that may come of the above publication.

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