2% of the world’s rarest zebras wiped out in Kenya’s relentless drought that has killed more than 1.5 million people and left nearly one-sixth of Africa’s cattle and crops dead.
The rains have been rare and erratic in recent years, and drought killed off the country’s cattle last year, leaving the hungry and desperate with few options but to eat grass or live off the land.
While farmers have struggled to feed the country’s people, the drought has devastated crops such as maize, sorghum and millet, with farmers unable to harvest crops and feed their livestock.
The situation has only worsened as Kenya has been plagued with frequent and unpredictable droughts in the past.
Kenya’s cattle herd is typically the largest in the world but is only a fraction of the size of the one in South Africa. ( Supplied: United Dairy Farmers )
“This is truly a national emergency,” said Toni Okello, executive director of the Kenya Livestock and Grassland Development Trust.
“More than 1.5 million cattle have died and millions of people are still suffering from hunger and poverty,” she said.
Farmers have been left with little choice but to feed themselves and their families on maize which requires up to 14 hours of rain for it to be harvested.
Maize crops have been wiped from the country’s fields and rivers. ( Supplied: United Dairy Farmers )
Rains have become an almost annual feature in Kenya since the 1990s but were relatively rare for years.
“The big rains, as they have been in this area for so long, are quite rare,” Okello said.
“When they come, we get a lot of our crops, including maize, we don’t get them this time.”
Seed corn from US farmers has been used to feed livestock in parts of Eastern Africa and in South Africa, where it has been a key ingredient in the