Food crisis tops Economic Council agenda

By Jackson Okoth

The National Economic and Social Council (NESC) met Friday to find solutions to severe high food prices as well as ways of dealing with calamities of climate change such as floods, drought and extreme weather conditions.

“It is saddening to note that about 17.5 per cent of Kenyans suffer from chronic food insecurity and poor nutrition with up to 3.5 million in need of food aid during period of crisis,” said Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

He made these remarks while opening a two-day roundtable NESC meeting at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies. The NESC plays a strategic role in facilitating and fostering policy dialogue on social and economic issues in the country

This meeting comes hot on the heels of the recent 2012 Economic Survey whose figures and projections paint a gloomy picture of Kenya’s growth this year.

While the Vision 2030 Economic blue print sets a growth rate target of 10 per cent, 4.4 per cent growth in 2011 is still miles below this level.

“I urge the Council to reflect on growth challenges, especially noting threats from a looming global economic downturn as evidenced by the Euro Zone crisis,” said the Prime Minister.

 While Kenya is an agricultural country, it spends large sums of scarce foreign exchange in the importation of foodstuffs.

The council has been urged to consider solving such problems as over-reliance on rain fed agriculture, large post–harvest losses, high food prices and the low agricultural production.

“I expect this meeting to make fundamental recommendations that will transform Kenya’s value chain, production, post-harvest management, processing and marketing,” said Raila.

The Government developed the National Climate Change Response Strategy in 2010 and has since been working to operationalise it.

Its implementation is expected to address challenges posed by climate change as well as exploit opportunities in the carbon trading environment.