NAIROBI, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Kenya is considering putting in place an agricultural strategy to eliminate food insecurity in the next five years, a government official said on Tuesday.
Andrew Tuimur, chief administrative secretary of the the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Irrigation, told an agricultural conference in Nairobi that the draft of Agricultural Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy has already being developed and would be completed in March.
"The strategy provides a roadmap on how to increase Kenya's household food resilience by reducing the number of food-insecure Kenyans in the arid and semi-arid regions from 2.7 million on average to zero," said Tuimur.
Tuimur said that the strategy will support Kenya's short-term aspirations for 100 percent food and nutrition security as well as the longer-term continental and global commitments to the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Tuimur added that the strategy aims to end the situation where about four million Kenyans need humanitarian food assistance during periods of severe drought.
He revealed that the country plans to permanently end food insecurity through promotion of cultivation of drought resistant crops as well as water harvesting to ensure that farmers and pastoralists have access to water throughout the year.
He noted that Kenya plans to boost the food resilience of poor households through a community-driven intervention design.
According to the ministry of agriculture, arid and semi-arid regions cover some 80 percent of Kenya's land area and are home to more than 35 percent of the population.
