NAIROBI, March 14 (Xinhua) -- The UN will on Thursday launch an international food appeal to alleviate hunger in Kenya.
The World Food Programme (WFP) Representative in Kenya Annalisa Conte told Xinhua in Nairobi that the appeal is necessary after Kenya declared the current drought as a national disaster.
"Kenya government has pointed out that despite allocating resources to combat the ongoing drought there is still a gap in funding that partners can help to fill," Conte said on the sidelines of the Strengthening Smallholder Farmers Production forum.
The day-long event brought policy makers, private sector and non-governmental organizations to review ways to improve small scale farmers' incomes.
The UN's food appeal will include a detailed plan for a multilateral response to the drought.
"It will present the different activities and roles that each UN entity in Kenya will play in order to mitigate the effects of the drought," Conte said.
According to government data, more than 3 million people in Kenya are currently affected by the drought. The drought has been caused by poor rainfall in 2016 and has affected 23 arid and semi-arid counties in the country.
The UN food agency is also involved in improving food security in Kenya.
WFP is currently providing funding for school meals for 500,000 school children.
Conte said that it will handover its school feeding programme to Kenya in 2019.
