NAIROBI, Kenya — In central and western Kenya, farmers have had a bumper crop of plump ears of corn and earthy potatoes. Yet in the north, skeletal children wait for food aid amid a growing emergency.
Kenya is supposed to be East Africa’s economic powerhouse, but a drought has sharply highlighted the historical neglect of northern Kenya, where 3.75 million Kenyans need food aid. Many Kenyan critics are blaming the situation not just on the weather but also on corrupt and negligent politicians.
Small farmers in western Kenya — which has had steady rains and a good harvest — say they don’t move their crops to the drought-ravaged north because it costs too much to store and transport them and they are not assured of a market.
The semiarid northern regions have long been neglected, first by British colonial rulers and then by successive Kenyan governments. Roads are often just bumpy tracks in the sand.
“We’ve had a good harvest this year, but it is hard to cover costs,” said farmer Morris Yabatsa, who grows corn and beans near the western town of Kitale. He sells a sack of corn for $24 but expects the price to halve in coming weeks as a glut of produce hits the local markets. Meanwhile, markets are mostly bare in the north.
Smallholders like Yabatsa have no way to transport the crops there. They don’t have their own vehicles, and even if they did, the roads are pitted with potholes and plagued by bandits, and many wouldn’t be able to afford to buy the produce in the north because the drought has killed their cattle.
The pastoralist communities there use their herds like bank accounts, selling off animals when they need cash. Oxfam says in some areas between 60 percent and 90 percent of livestock have already perished.
“The government has surrendered its responsibility,” said James Shikwati, a leading Kenyan economist. Instead of investing in infrastructure, it was losing millions of dollars through corruption, he said.
Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said the government is doing everything it can to help, including providing food aid, buying dying livestock from pastoralists in drought- stricken areas to provide them with cash, and building two new roads to run through the north.
