Kenya plans to import 25 million 90-kilogram bags of maize as the government moves to cover an expected shortfall after poor weather damaged crops in major growing areas.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said arrangements for the imports were already underway. He sought to reassure Kenyans that the country would have enough maize despite the pressure on domestic production.
“We will import maize. We have already made arrangements for that. We will manage the country. The country is not going to go hungry,” Mr Kagwe said.
The government estimates that Kenya consumes about 75 million bags of maize each year. Poor harvests, linked to drought and other climate-related disruptions, are expected to leave a gap of about 25 million bags.
The proposed imports are intended not only to fill the supply gap but also to help steady prices. A shortage of maize could put further pressure on the cost of maize flour, a staple in many Kenyan households.
The announcement comes as farmers in some of the country’s major maize-producing regions contend with worsening dry conditions. Earlier this month, Mr Kagwe said maize production could fall because of drought, while the government considered supplies from the wider COMESA region to supplement local production.
The government has also been working on measures aimed at strengthening production over the longer term. These include expanding irrigation and reducing some of the costs and administrative barriers facing farmers and agricultural businesses.
The Galana Kulalu irrigation scheme is among the projects the government hopes will reduce the country’s dependence on rainfall. The broader strategy is to increase production while making food supplies less vulnerable to increasingly unpredictable weather.
But imports offer a more immediate answer to the current problem.
Kenya has turned to maize imports before when local harvests have fallen short. In February, the government secured an assurance from Zambia for up to one million 90-kilogram bags of maize as drought threatened domestic supplies.
The scale of the latest proposed import programme is considerably larger.
For consumers, the central question will be whether the additional maize reaches the market quickly enough and at a price that helps ease pressure on household budgets.
Mr Kagwe has maintained that the government has measures in place to prevent a food crisis. But the need for such a large import programme underlines the growing challenge posed by drought and unreliable weather to Kenya’s food production.
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