NDMA sounds alarm over looming drought, calls for stronger disaster preparedness
Adoyo, representing the CEO of NDMA, called for increased domestic investment in disaster risk reduction to bridge the growing gap between risk and readiness.
The National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) has called for increased investment in disaster risk reduction, warning that Kenya faces a national drought threat after losing 2.6 million livestock worth Sh232.6 billion and spending Sh71 billion on drought response between 2021 and 2023.
On Friday, speaking during the opening of the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Day 2025 Symposium in Busia County, Felix Adoyo, Drought Resilience Director at NDMA, highlighted the country’s progress in institutionalising drought risk management.
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Adoyo, representing the CEO of NDMA, called for increased domestic investment in disaster risk reduction to bridge the growing gap between risk and readiness.
He pointed to efforts in strengthening early warning systems, implementing social protection under the Hunger Safety Net Programme, and establishing the National Drought Emergency Fund (NDEF) as key measures to improve Kenya’s preparedness for droughts.
Kenya’s arid and semi-arid counties, home to pastoralists and farmers, are particularly vulnerable, often shifting rapidly from stable conditions to severe drought when critical rainfall fails.
NDMA’s focus on anticipatory action aims to prevent loss of livestock, crops, and livelihoods before the situation escalates into a full-blown disaster.
This comes as the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) projects a high likelihood of below-normal rainfall for the October–December 2025 season across much of eastern Kenya, southern Ethiopia, much of Somalia, and parts of Tanzania.
ICPAC describes the season as a critical rainfall period that contributes up to 70 per cent of annual totals in parts of the Horn of Africa.
Regions including south-western Ethiopia, north-western Kenya, central to northern Uganda, most of Rwanda, and western Burundi are expected to have equal chances of receiving below- or above-normal rainfall.
ICPAC’s seasonal outlook also highlighted a high likelihood of rainfall exceeding 300 millimetres in parts of western Kenya, southern Uganda, much of Rwanda and Burundi, and north-western Tanzania.
Temperatures across the region are also expected to rise. ICPAC predicts warmer-than-average surface temperatures across the Greater Horn of Africa (GHA), particularly in the eastern regions, while average to cooler-than-average conditions are expected in cross-border areas of Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya, as well as localised parts of north-western Sudan.
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