Monitoring Agricultural Drought: The Case of Kenya - Monitoring and Predicting Agricultural Drought: A Global Study - page 245

Table 18.1 The classification of drought
or weather conditons based on Palmer
drought index

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

Index value Drought classification

> + 4 Extreme wetness

+ 4to + 3 Severe wetness

+ 3to + 2 Moderate wetness

+ 2 to -2 Near normal

-2 to -3 Moderate drought

-3 to -4 Severe drought

< -4 Extreme drought

Source: Palmer (1965).

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Table 18.2 The quartile drought severity index (QDSI)
used by the Drought Monitoring Center, Nairobi, Kenya

Line
——
-1.4
——
Norm
PgEn

Index Range Description

1 Rainfall < min Driest on record

2 Min ≤ rainfall < Q 1 Dry

3 Q 1 ≤ rainfall < Q 3 Near normal

4 Q 3 ≤ rainfall ≤ max Wet

5 Rainfall > max Wettest on record

Source: Ogallo (2000).

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deforestation, land-cover change, and forest and grassland fires. Many
other remotely sensed data that can be used in drought monitoring can
be obtained from USGCRP (1999) and WMO (2000).

Li vestock Conditions

The condition of livestock (camels, cattle, goats, and sheep) can also be
used to monitor drought conditions. The vegetation density of the Kenya's
arid and semiarid lands is low, and the variation in forage quantity and
quality is enormous. These variations and periodic lack of water for live-
stock due to low rainfall force pastoral communities (e.g., Maasai, Sam-
buru, Turkana, and many others) to wander continuously with their herds
of livestock. Due to drought, density as well as quality of pasture dete-
riorates and so do the physical conditions of the livestock that feed on
these pastures. Many livestock get weaker and weaker and eventually die
of starvation (figure 18.4).
Low livestock prices are usually signs of drought stress when they are
being sold for money to purchase expensive food commodities or when
destocking is taking place to avoid eminent death due to lack of water and
forage. Livestock numbers and prices when properly monitored would give
an indication of food security in a particular locality. The meat-cereal price