A meal rationed, measured in handfuls: how drought is reshaping life across northern Kenya

In Lodwar, Turkana County, 75-year-old Echakan sits outside her temporary shelter, chewing on a handful of wild doum fruit.

It is all she has left to eat.  

“I have no food,” she says quietly. “The little I received from WFP; I gave to my children and grandchildren who had nothing.” I am their mother how could I eat when they had none?  

For decades, her family relied on livestock for both food and income. Milk sustained the household. Animals could be sold when cash was needed. That system has steadily broken down.

Repeated failed rains have weakened herds and dried up pasture. Some animals have died. Others have been lost to insecurity. The few that remain no longer offer the same support.

“I have never seen a drought like this,” she says. “Even during previous droughts, we could usually find water and food when we moved in search of pasture for our families and livestock.”

“I have never seen a drought like this. Even during previous droughts, we could usually find water and food when we moved in search of pasture for our families and livestock.”

Across Turkana and other arid counties, families are adjusting in similar ways. Livestock, once a store of value, now fetch far less in local markets. Casual labour is scarce. Food choices are narrowing.

For some, that means turning to wild fruits. For others, reducing meals or prioritising children and older family members.

Further south-east in Tana River County, the same pressures are unfolding more quietly inside homes.

At midday in Matanya village, Kuresh Rage stands over a small fire, stirring a pot of rice and mung beans.  

“It has to be enough for everyone,” she says.

Before the drought, she worked on nearby farms, earning income that helped diversify what her family ate. Milk from livestock added both nutrition and stability. Now, with farms no longer bearing food and animals producing less, those options have narrowed.  

“I used to find work on the farms along the river. Now there is none,” she says.

Each meal is carefully measured, with children and elderly relatives prioritised.

Across Kenya’s arid and semi-arid lands, this shift is not defined by a single moment, but by accumulation. Seasons have failed one after another, gradually eroding livelihoods that depend on predictable cycles of rain, pasture, and movement.

What remains are daily decisions about how to cope.

Food and cash assistance by the World Food Programme, is helping to stabilise access to food for the most affected households in ASALs counties including Turkana and Tana River. The support is targeted, focusing on those least able to absorb the shock.

To complement ongoing food and cash assistance, the next phase of the Lisha Jamii response supported through OCHA Pooled Funds, will roll out in mid-April. It will provide cash transfers to most affected households and support Term Two school meals, prioritising the most drought-affected schools in Marsabit and Wajir counties.

For Kuresh, it provides temporary relief.

“We are grateful,” she says. “I ask for support until the rains return.”

For Echakan, it is something she shares, even when it leaves her with little.

But assistance is limited, and needs continue to outpace available resources. In many communities, support lasts only a few months, while the conditions driving food insecurity persist.

Across both counties, recovery depends on the same uncertain factor: the return of rains, and with it, the gradual rebuilding of livestock and livelihoods.

Until then, families continue to adjust.

In Lodwar, Echakan finishes the last of the fruit in her hand.

In Matanya, Kuresh measures out portions from a single pot.

With forecasts indicating below average long rains between March and May 2026, the crisis is unlikely to ease soon. With water sources dwindling and livestock losses mounting families like Echakan’s and Kureshe’s face an increasingly uncertain future. 

Story by Unice Musau and Shamsi Mohammud. This initiative has been made possible through the support of IRA contributors, including Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway and Switzerland.