Food Assistance Fact Sheet - Kenya

February 21, 2013

Food Security Situation

CIA World Factbook

• Kenya is a low-income, food-deficit country.  The UN Development Program (UNDP) ranked Kenya 143 out of 187 countries on its 2011 Human Development Index, classifying it as a “low human development” country.  

• The Government of Kenya (GoK)-led Food Security Steering Group estimates that approximately 2.7 million people in Kenya will require humanitarian assistance in 2013.  This total includes over 600,000 refugees, primarily from Somalia.

• The presidential election of 2007 led to a political crisis and significant displacements.  To mitigate any such disturbances for the 2013 general election, the GoK National Disaster Operation Centre has coordinated planning with an inter-sector group of humanitarian agencies operating in Kenya.

Food Assistance Programs

• The Office of Food for Peace (FFP) targets over 2.3 million drought-affected Kenyans, and over 570,000 refugees.

• FFP partners with the UN World Food Program (WFP), the UN Children’s Fund, and Adeso, a non-governmental organization (NGO),  to provide relief through a variety of activities including direct distribution, supplementary feeding, mother and child health and nutrition, food-for-assets, cash-for-assets, unconditional cash transfers, and therapeutic feeding activities.

Food for Peace Contributions

Total Contributions:

Fiscal Year 2013 Contribution Breakdown:

Note: WFP: UN World Food Program; MT: Metric Tons; EFSP: Emergency Food Security Program; FEWS NET: Famine Early Warning Systems Network
Food Security Situation information provided by FEWS NET and WFP as of February 2013