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North Rift maize harvest is expected to enter the market in October but the price may not be cheaper.
That’s because of the high cost of inputs, except for fertiliser that is subsidised.
Agriculture PS Kello Harsama said the country is expecting a bumper harvest of 35 to 40 million bags of maize.
The PS attributed the good harvest to adequate rains and the government’s subsidised fertiliser programme.
He said through the programme, over three million farmers from 40 counties across the country have accessed fertiliser for Sh3,500 per bag.
The country has been facing major challenges in food security due to drought and climate change.
“For the last five years, our food situation has not been good,” the PS said. “In the last one year, we have had the worst drought that has killed more than two million cattle.
“It has also led to a severe food shortage and there has been a deficit of 10 million bags of maize. This exposed people to a food crisis and starvation in some regions, forcing the government to import food from neighboring countries,” he said.
The PS said because of this, the government had gazetted importation of 1.4 million metric tonnes of maize and 1.1 million metric tonnes of rice.
Out of the 1.4 million metric tonnes of maize that had been gazetted; only 300,000 metric tons have been imported so far.
Kennedy Nyaga, chairman United Grain Millers Association, an umbrella body of small-scale millers, said maize from farmers in the grain basket may not be as cheap as anticipated.
“The costs of maize from our farmers in North Rift may not be cheap because of the high cost of inputs. Farmers are not likely to sell their maize at a cheaper price [but wait] so they can break even,” he said.
Nyaga told the Star during an interview a 90kg bag of maize mainly imported from Tanzania and elsewhere is selling at Sh5,700. This is a decrease from between Sh6,000 to Sh6,200 in the last two weeks.
He said maize from Uganda is expected to start getting into the market this week and by the end of the month, it may flood the market, pushing the price further down.
Millers are processing maize mainly from Tanzania and buying it at Sh5,200 plus Sh500 for transport. The bag gets to Nairobi costing Sh5,700.
A food and nutrition security report by the Ministry of Agriculture shows maize crop conditions in North Rift are good, except for small parts of Uasin Gishu and lower parts of West Pokot that reported poor rainfall.
In addition, some small parts of Elgeyo Marakwet, Meru, Kisumu and Taita Taveta reported stressed crop conditions in June due to early end of the long rains.
“Due to poor performance of crops in 2021 and 2022, the country still continues to rely on imported stocks to meet the shortage of local supplies,” the food and nutrition report indicated.
The Kenya Met June-July-August weather outlook showed near to below average rainfall is expected over the Highlands West of the Rift Valley, the Lake Victoria Basin, Central and South Rift Valley.
“Farmers in these areas are advised to take advantage of expected dry spells to harvest their produce and reduce post-harvest losses. There is, however, a likelihood of outbreak of pests and diseases such as fall armyworm in areas with below average rainfall,” the MET said.
The weatherman advised authorities to implement pest and disease surveillance, control and preventive measures. BY THE STAR