Rain, crossborder trade boost EA’s food security

Out of the record Ksh1 trillion ($12.5 billion) budget, agriculture and rural development was allocated $0.4 billion.

Uganda and Tanzania also increased their budgets to counter an increasingly volatile cycle of droughts and floods that has made electricity and agricultural production less predictable.

However, despite the bumper harvests, acute food insecurity conditions will persist and the number of people in need of assistance is likely to increase in the August-September period in conflict-affected regions, namely Somalia and parts of Sudan.

According to Fews Net, in the larger East Africa region, including Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia, about 17 million people are highly or extremely food insecure, a drop from an estimated 20 million in July last year.