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Changing weather patterns have caused an increase in the frequency of drought in Kenya, leading to heavy economic losses and threatening the livelihoods of millions of livestock farmers there.
No longer an occasional occurrence, droughts are recurring more often, with the most recent leading to the deaths of more than 2.5 million animals, according to the country’s agriculture secretary, Mutahi Kagwe. As a direct result, costs amounted to more than KES50 billion (US$388 million), with the pressures felt by the farmers as well as by the wider local economy.
