In pictures: Kenyans share their dinner to save livestock

  • Published
Goat feed

Kenyan farmers have started feeding their own meals to their livestock to save them from a drought which has affected as much as half the country.

Image caption,

In one of the worst affected areas, Marsabit in the north of the country, animal carcasses are littering countryside that used to be pastures.

Image caption,

"If you get tea or porridge, you share with your livestock or else they will die. What are we to do now? We will die together," one herder told the BBC

Image caption,

Cows that used to sell for $500 (£400) each now sell for $100 because they are so thin.

Image caption,

The government promised to buy the animals to mitigate the losses but herders told the BBC they have not received such an offer.

Image caption,

As water dries up, the few watering holes left in Marsabit are getting busy.

Image caption,

People are walking as long as 10km (6.2 miles) each way to get water.

Image caption,

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has declared the drought a national emergency and has appealed for international aid.

Image caption,

Kenya's Red Cross says 2.7 million people face starvation if more help is not provided.

Image caption,

"If it doesn't rain, this will be a catastrophe. We might lose lives, not animal lives this time, but humans," the head of the county's drought management authority, Guyo Gulicha, said.

Gallery by BBC Africa's Anthony Irungu

Around the BBC