Kenya will import maize to cover an anticipated shortfall of
about 25 million bags, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has said.
This is as the government moves to strengthen food security
amid drought and unreliable rainfall.
Kagwe said the expected deficit should not cause alarm,
noting that the country had not lost its entire maize crop but would need
imports to bridge the gap between production and consumption.
“It is not all the crop that has failed. We think that we
are going to be short of about 25 million bags,” Kagwe said.
Kenya consumes an estimated 70 million to 75 million
90-kilogramme bags of maize annually.
Speaking in Mombasa during the fifth joint consultative
meeting involving the national and county governments and the World Bank, Kagwe
said drought in key maize-growing areas had contributed to the projected
shortfall.
He said the situation underscored the need for Kenya to
reduce its dependence on rain-fed agriculture and increase investment in
irrigation to make food production more reliable.
“We need to move more into irrigation-fed agriculture so
that the kind of climatic changes that are happening will not impact us as much
as they are at this time,” he said.
Kagwe identified the Galana-Kulalu irrigation project as one
of the areas that could help increase food production and reduce the impact of
climate change on agriculture.
He also cited Baringo, Garissa and Tana River counties as
having large tracts of land that could be brought under cultivation through
expanded irrigation infrastructure.
The CS said the government was pursuing a broader
transformation of agriculture focused on increasing productivity, promoting
value addition, attracting investment and creating employment.
He said farmers should be supported to produce more from the
land they already cultivate while earning better returns through processing and
value addition.
“We want each farmer to produce more than they have been
producing within the same setup,” Kagwe said.
He said the government was also seeking to bring more young
people into agriculture by promoting technology, artificial intelligence and
modern farming methods.
“We want the central part of agriculture to be managed and
executed by youth so that we can also infuse new ways of doing agriculture,” he
said.
Kagwe said the AgriConnect initiative would bring together
the national and county governments, the World Bank and the private sector to
improve the business environment, create jobs and expand investment
opportunities in agriculture.
The three-day Mombasa meeting is reviewing the
implementation of the Food Systems Resilience Project (FSRP) and the National
Agricultural Value Chain Development Project, while preparing for the next
phase of programmes under AgriConnect.
Kagwe said the government would also work with the National
Treasury to review taxation affecting farmers and agribusinesses, particularly
multiple taxes and bureaucratic requirements that raise the cost of investment.
He said the reforms were aimed at making agriculture more
commercially viable while improving farmers’ incomes.
Bungoma Governor Kenneth Lusaka, who chairs the Council of
Governors’ Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Committee, supported the push
for greater youth participation.
Lusaka said many farmers were ageing and urged the government
to create more opportunities for young people in farming and agribusiness.
He said technologies such as drones and other smart farming
solutions could help make agriculture more attractive to the youth.
Lusaka also urged young people to explore opportunities
beyond primary production, including value addition, processing and marketing.
He cautioned leaders against allowing the 2027 election
campaigns to distract the country from development priorities, particularly
food production.
“Elections will come and go and Kenya will still be there,”
Lusaka said.
INSTANT ANALYSIS
Kenya’s planned maize imports highlight the continued
vulnerability of the country’s food supply to drought and dependence on rain-fed
agriculture. Agriculture CS Mutahi Kagwe estimates a deficit of about 25
million 90-kilogramme bags against annual consumption of up to 75 million bags.
While imports will provide a short-term solution, Kagwe is advocating expanded
irrigation as a long-term response to climate-related production shocks.
