Kenya recently lifted a ban on the cultivation and importation of genetically modified (GM) crops amid the worst drought in 40 years and soaring food prices.

While activists have protested the move, the government says the move comes after a report by a task force on GM foods resulted in proper scientific regulation and the presence of a strong regulatory framework.

Nairobi, Oct 27 (Prensa Latina) The drought that plagues southern Kenya has livestock farmers in that area on the brink of ruin, and are demanding the government's intervention to stop the loss of their herds.

The influx of farmers to the markets as a last resort has sent prices plummeting and put nearly 3.5 million residents in the south of the country on the brink of food insecurity

This includes white maize, the country’s main staple. The decision was welcomed by scientists who see GM crops as the answer for food security.

Farmers would rather sell their cattle than see them die for lack of water and pasture. That figure is just part of the 20 million people, half of them children, in Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia

In contrast, torrential downpours in 19 states in central and west Africa, with their aftermath are depriving about five million people of food and drinking water, who are now in the category of internally displaced persons after losing their plots of mostly subsistence crops.

Somalia who are in urgent need of humanitarian aid this year because of drought, the source adds.