Short rains to offer relief for Kenyan farmers

Food prices in Kenya are likely to go down easing inflationary pressure among Kenya’s households as the country’s agricultural sector braces for anticipated heavy rains starting next month.

The country’s Meteorological Department Wednesday issued a warning to farmers around food producing areas of the country to prepare their crop for sustained, above-normal rainfall that will progress into the first quarter of 2016 in some areas.

Some of the areas set to experience above normal rainfall include Kenya’s food basket counties of Kericho, Nandi, Bomet, Uasin Gishu and Trans Nzoia among others. This provides possible respite for Kenyans further pushing downwards the country’s inflation which currently stands at 5.84 per cent.

Earlier this week, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said the fall in Kenyan food prices was directly responsible for the 11 per cent drop from July’s 6.62 overall inflation.

“Kenya’s food and non-alcoholic drinks segment, which accounts for more than a third of the index, decreased by 0.26 per cent between July and August, as favourable weather conditions pushed down the cost of food,” the KNBS said in a statement.

If the rains progress as projected by the meteorological office, Kenyan farmers across the country will generate a bountiful harvest next season with consumers reaping the ultimate savings.

“The above-normal rainfall expected over most agricultural areas of the country and its likelihood of having good distribution should be a good motivation for farmers to double their efforts to reap maximum benefit from these good conditions,” read the statement by the department’s assistant director Mr Peter Ambenje.

“Food security during the season is expected to improve significantly in the eastern and northern parts of Kenya during and after the October-December rainfall season.”

However, farmers in the grain-rich counties of Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu and Kitale who already have maize crops at various stages of maturity have been advised to implement appropriate strategies to hedge against post-harvest losses.

Frequent drought

“Farmers need to be aware of prevalence of diseases due to high moisture levels that may cause post-harvest losses and interference with the harvesting in the counties of the Rift Valley,” he stated.

Kenya’s agricultural industry is the mainstay of the economy employing close to 80 per cent of Kenya’s labour force.

However, volatile prices of leading cash crops tea and coffee and mismanagement in the sugar, cotton and pyrethrum industries have drastically affected the productivity of the sector in the recent years.

Last year, Central Bank of Kenya, CBK said that the country’s dependence on rain-fed Agriculture was directly responsible for an increase on non-performing loans as poor yields following failed rains led to many farmers defaulting on their loan repayments.

Kenya produces between 37 and 40 million bags of maize against a national requirement of 42 million bags annually with frequent drought, the high cost of farm inputs and poor storage often named as the common causes of food insecurity.