BARINGO COUNTY 2020 SHORT RAINS FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY ASSESSMENT REPORT A joint report by the Kenya Food Security Steering Group and Baringo County Steering Group February 2021 Food security assessments are carried out twice a year by the Kenya Food Security Steering Group (KFSSG) and technical government departments of the County Steering Group (CSG). The 2020 short rains assessment in Baringo County was conducted from 18th -29th January, 2021 with the overall goal of developing an objective, evidence-based and transparent food security situation analysis following the performance of 2020 short rains. The assessment was also to take into consideration the cumulative effects of previous seasons and provide recommendations for possible response options based on the situation analysis. The onset of the OND was normal and took place in the first dekad of October resulting in an average amount of 206 mm of rainfall against a normal of 180mm. Both spatial and temporal distribution of the rains was poor with the peak of the season being observed in the second dekad of October while cessation of the season was earlier than normal (first dekad of December). COVID-19 -19 restrictions were still in place which hampered smooth flow of goods and services, but the most affected were the health and education sectors. The County experienced insecurity challenges in parts of Tiaty Sub County which led to disruption of markets and other essential services and currently there is a major security operation going on to restore law and order. Livestock disease cases were minimal while lake waters are still high causing displacements and submerging of land. Area under maize acreage reduced for both rain fed and irrigated agriculture while yield from rain fed agriculture was less than 60 percent of Long-Term Average (LTA) due to early rainfall cessation. Household stocks were 20 percent above LTA due to carry over from long rains harvest while forage conditions were good in all livelihood zones except in the pastoral areas where its poor to fair. Livestock body condition was good for all the species across the livelihood zones other than in pastoral areas where body condition for cattle was fair. Milk production was below LTA across the County and consumption was near normal, the prices of milk were above the LTA. Tropical livestock units were below the LTA with livestock disease outbreak being minimal. Main water sources were at normal capacities, the access distances to water points remained normal other than in pastoral areas where trekking distances were above LTA. Waiting time at water points and water consumption were normal across the County. About 73 percent of the households had acceptable food consumption score while another 25 percent had borderline food consumption score, the coping strategy index (CSI) stands at 12.47 with Agro pastoral livelihood zone having the highest CSI at 16.6. Adult morbidity was on a declining trend compared to the last three years and the three most common diseases reported were malaria, diarrhoea and typhoid although the reported cases were lower than in 2019. COVID-19 - 19 impacted heavily on Vitamin A immunization coverage leading to low coverage compared to the year 2019. Latrine coverage and hand washing practices were reported to be lowest in pastoral areas at three and two percent respectively but highest in the mixed farming livelihood zone at 78 and 69 percent respectively. According to SMART survey of 2019, malnutrition was highest in Tiaty Sub County at 20.9 percent (GAM), 9.3 percent (SAM) and 40.1 percent for stunting while malnutrition by MUAC in December showed 95 percent of the children not being malnourished. There was a reduction in enrolment for term II compared to term I in both primary and secondary schools and this was due to COVID-19 related issues that took place while students were at home such as teen pregnancies, circumcision ceremonies among others. Nearly 5,700 girls did not report back to school of which 70 percent of the cases could be due to pregnancies. About 73 percent of all the students in primary schools are under school feeding programs. The indicative phase of food security classification is Stressed (IPC Phase 2).