• Boga said the estimated long rain harvest is 16.4 million bags of maize and 266,500 bags of wheat.
• Munya said that milk production has gone down drastically, and while Covid-19 could be a major contributor, farmers are not investing in production.
Image: MATHEWS NDANYI
The country has enough food to last until April next year, Agriculture CS Peter Munya has said.
“Our projections indicate that we have enough stocks of the key staple food up to April next year. Harvesting in the North Rift region has been going on, especially for maize, but it has been hampered by challenges of weather that is affecting drying of maize,” he said.
Munya spoke last week at Kilimo House, Nairobi, while releasing cotton seeds to be distributed to farmers in the Eastern region for the short-rain planting season.
According to the country’s food balance sheet that is projected to end December 2020, there will be a surplus of 18.7 million bags.
This is based on estimated imports by private sector (millers) from the region and from the ongoing long rain harvest coming from the main maize growing zones.
Agriculture PS Hamadi Boga said on Monday that the estimated long rain harvest is 16.4 million bags of maize and 266,500 bags of wheat. For the short rainy season, the estimated harvest for beans is 671,200 bags and 1.2 million bags of rice.
“The beans balance sheet projected to end of December 2020 shows a surplus of 4.7 million bags. This is based on 120,000 bags estimated imports by the private sector and relief agencies and 671,200 bags of estimated short rains harvests mainly from Nyanza and Western regions,” the food balance sheet shows.
It indicates a surplus of 5.2 million bags of wheat as of December 31, 2020, as a result of local production supplemented by imports. Boga said the country relies on imports to sustain the two million bags of wheat consumed per month.
The rice balance sheet shows a surplus of 436,300 bags based on estimated imports by millers and relief agencies. This is also based on the long rains harvest and main crop planted in July which is harvested in November-December period.
Munya said the agriculture sector has performed well during the Covid-19 pandemic but there have been some hiccups, including access to the market.
“Our biggest worry is the reduced purchasing power from the consumers. The dwindling income that has been brought about by the loss of jobs during the pandemic has led to low purchasing power,” he said.
The CS said the flower industry has also been hurt by the pandemic but is slowly picking up.
Munya noted that milk production has gone down drastically, and while Covid-19 could be a major contributor, farmers are not investing in production. He urged farmers to invest more to increase production because there is a ready market and prices are good.
“Our own assessment is that the sector is doing well given the circumstances under which we are operating. I want to give an assurance that Kenyans will still be able to access food in case of another lockdown as the government will ensure easy movement of food from the farms to the market,” the CS said.