A herdsman walks in the desert heat past an animal carcass near Wajir, Kenya. The drought in northern Kenya has deepened after an unusually dry season. Chris Jackson / Getty Images

SPECIAL REPORT BY XINHUA CORRESPONDENT DANIEL OOKO NAIROBI, (Xinhua) — The Kenyan government on Wednesday raised an alarm of severe food, water and energy shortages facing the east African nation. Prime Minister Raila Odinga told Parliament that over 10 million people are in urgent need of food assistance, noting that a very worrying situation and forecasts in food, water and energy are grim, blaming it on destruction of environment. “We are paying the price of decades of wanton destruction of our environment, which has seen our forest cover decline from 12 percent at independence to about 1.2 percent today. We have consistently abused our water towers, slashed and burnt our forests and farmed in our river basins,” he told lawmakers. According to Odinga, all of the country’s water towers are seriously threatened by human encroachment. “We are reaping what we have been sowing and it is a bitter harvest,” he said. Odinga said the east African nation expects to harvest only 20 million bags (90kg/ bag) of maize, the country’s staple food, against an annual consumption of 33 million bags as the country seeks to avert to food crisis caused by the post-election violence. The prime minister told the legislators that the severity of the food situation will be fully felt in August, even though many families across the country are already starving. …  Delivering his weekly address to Parliament, Odinga also blamed the severe shortage on failed rains, which he said has so demoralized farmers that only 1.2 million hectares is under cultivation instead of the usual 1.4 million hectares. He described food, water and energy situation in the country as “worrying” and forecasts as “grim”, warning that 1.2 million school going children who depend on the school feeding program are also in danger of starving due to the food crisis. “In some places, schools have the money but there is no food to buy. This is the fifth straight season in which the country has experienced inadequate rainfall and if the short rains also fail, we could have a catastrophe,” he warned. … The prime minister said pastoralists are crossing into neighboring countries like Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda in search of pastures and water. He said livestock are dying in Arid and Semi-Arid (ASAL) areas, and scavenging for pastures in game parks where they are pushing wild animals out. This, Odinga said, could develop into a full-scale wildlife-human conflict and a massive environmental degradation, adding that up to 130,000 livestock have died mostly in ASAL areas. “The media have reported cases of famine related death.  But the relevant ministries say none of these deaths have been directly linked to hunger or lack of water. I have asked the Ministries of Special Programs and Health Services for a full investigation and a detailed report presented to my office on this,” he said. … To avert severe water shortage that has gripped many parts of the country due to destruction of water catchments areas, Odinga said the ministry of water has embarked on drilling boreholes across the country. …

National alarm over continuing and severe food and water shortages via The Oil Drum