Farmers lose grain to post-harvest inefficiencies

By Macharia Kamau

Kenya loses between 30 and 40 per cent of its grain to post-harvest inefficiencies resulting from poor policies, grain growers say.

Farmers now want the Government to invest more on post-harvest handling of the food crops, as a strategy of boosting the country’s food security.

The Cereal Growers Association (CGA) wants farmers educated on how to handle crops during the post-harvest period. This, the association said, is crucial time that has over the years seen the country lose out on its fight against food insecurity and poverty among small holder farmers.

A farmer admires her crop. Kenya has done little to address post-harvest issues. Photo: File/Standard

Mr David Nyameino, CGA executive director said there have been emphasis to increase production of grains, but little has been done to address post-harvest issues, such as handling of food crops, drying, storage, financing and marketing.

"Let us look again at the policies we have because we have concentrated a lot on improving the production of crops and that is where the problem of food security comes from," he said.

"It’s these shortcomings that have increased poverty levels within the farming community over the years. We need to address the post-harvest problems to ensure that the rural economies are improved and sustained," he said.

He was speaking in Meru where CGA and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) launched an emergency programme to assist farmers cope with the problems associated with post-harvest handling of food crops.

AGRA provided local farmer associations with equipment worth Sh1.4 million that will be used to improve their post-harvest handling of cereals.

Three years

The programme is also aimed at ensuring that the local farmers participate in the World Food Programme purchase plan that requires WFP buys a minimum of 10 per cent of its country requirements from smallholder farmers.

The programme between CGA and AGRA is expected to run over the next three years.

"We will train farmers during the period and link them to the markets," Anne Mbaabu AGRA country manager told farmers in Giaki area in Meru.

"Both farmers and consumers stand to benefit from this programme because it addresses all the issues that have caused huge problems over the years. The farmer gets information on how to handle produce and the consumer is assured of more variety and a sustained supply," she said.

Nyameino noted it would go further to address loss in business opportunities.

Currently, many producers cannot access markets or are confined to lower value market chains through lack of product quality, market information and business skill