Samburu County Government on Saturday, January 14 launched drought intervention activities through the Emergency Locust Response Program (ELRP)
The program will cost Sh19.8 million.
Moreover, County Executive Committee (CEC) Member for Agriculture, Livestock, Veterinary Services and Fisheries, Ely Loldepe presided over the flagging-off of water trucking services to the drought-stricken Samburu North and East Sub-counties.
Loldepe also presented a Sh8 million cheque to Community Driven Development Committees (CDDC) in Samburu East and Samburu North-Sub counties that are supporting the services.
Nonetheless, the water trucks are expected to make 120 trips to transport water in this exercise.
Loldepe further stated that 32 CDDCs from Samburu East andNorth will each receive Sh 250,000 for animal feeds to cushion their main source of livelihood from the drought.
Likewise, he noted that contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) vaccine will be administered to goats and sheep while goat poxmass vaccination will be undertaken in Samburu North and Samburu East Sub-counties at cost of Sh 2.5 million.
“The CCPP vaccine is essential for the increased production of goats in a cost-effective manner and the prevention of animal-to-animal transmission for both domestic and wild animals,” Loldepe said.
Also Read: Govt’ Calls for Repair of Boreholes in Drought-Stricken Areas
Similarly, 13 water tanks for water storage and water harvesting were issued to households’ in Samburu north sub county.
Furthermore, the program will see 6000 mango seedlings and 6,000 orange seedlings as well as farm inputs will distributed in Nyiro Ward.
Samburu County Assembly Speaker, Fred Lengees, urged the CDDCs to use part of the money to construct concrete water tanks for water harvesting.
The speaker also urged the county government to support women groups with poultry and beekeeping activities in order to improve their living standards.