Kenya receives 50,000 tonnes of wheat from US

By Philip Mwakio

An estimated 50,000 tonnes of high quality wheat from US is being offloaded at the Port of Mombasa.

Another consignment of 200,000 tonnes of high quality wheat is expected into the country during this marketing year.

The wheat will be processed and sold in the local market at fair prices.

Speaking at the port on Friday, when he received the consignment, which was onboard MV Stove Tradition, US ambassador to Kenya, Michael Rannerberger said the cargo will contribute to Kenya’s food security.

"This is the largest ever single shipment of US wheat import into the country," he said.

agricultural productivity

MV Stove Tradition is a wide-hull, low draft ship that can enter and discharge at the port unlike previous vessels, which could only carry a maximum of 35,000 tonnes.

It set sail from the export facility in Beaumont in Texas, last month.

Rannerberger reiterated his government’s commitment to increase Kenya’s domestic agricultural productivity through its newly launched Feed the Future (FtF).

This is the US government’s global hunger and food security initiative committed to reducing hunger and poverty.

He urged Kenya to enact laws on food security to deal with the country’s fast growing population.

East Africa Chief operating officer Julian Fay of Louis Dreyfus Commodities, the importer of the shipment, said the discharge of the wheat cargo without any subsidies or donor involvement at world market prices is milestone.

He said the larger East African market was experiencing a steady food import growth with wheat imports having more than doubled since the liberation of trade in 1990s.

This year, the region will import two million tonnes from 800,000 tonnes in 1999.

The import is entirely financed, imported and processed by the private sector.