Food crisis as maize prices soar amid biting shortage

With the next maize harvest expected three months from now, an acute shortage of the product has hit the North Rift region, the country’s grain basket, posing a food security crisis.

Farmers have stocks only for subsistence use while a few with a surplus are selling it at over Sh6,000 per 90kg bag with the prices on an upward trajectory on daily basis.

Even as the scarcity pushes prices higher, there are fears that costs will soar even further after the coming harvest season due to high operational costs incurred by farmers including the high cost of fertiliser and fuel among others.

Fall armyworm menace in parts of the region, climate change impact, unaffordable top-dress fertiliser, and ‘difficult to access’ subsidy are among challenges confronting farmers at the moment, which are likely to affect the yield of the current season crop.

The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) stores that used to stock the country’s strategic food reserves are currently empty, which could prompt reliance on imports.

But at the village level, the price of a 2kg tin of maize retails at Sh160 in most parts of the North Rift and a consumer has to part with another Sh20 for milling owing to the recent hike in pump prices. 

Mr Tom Korgoren and Thomas Boen, both large-scale farmers in North Rift told Sunday Standard that the latest price of a 90kg bag of maize is Sh6,500.

“By next week, the cost of ugali could escalate as we expect the price of a 90kg bag to hit Sh 7,000 from the current Sh6,500. There is a serious shortage of maize across the country,” stated Korgoren.

Millers in Kitale, Trans Nzoia County reported having run out of maize stocks after exhausting their stocks.

“We are looking for new stocks but there is no maize. This could hurt consumers as prices will soar,” said an official at a miller who declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

Earlier this week, Mr Kipng’etich Mutai, the chairman of the Grain Belt Millers Association said maize is no longer available and small-scale millers are already closing shop.

“Small scale millers are closing, while large scale ones have stocks that could take them for the next 10 days or two weeks. Operations will be affected because imported maize at the port of Mombasa is expensive at Sh6,000 per 90 kg bag,” stated Mutai.

Mutai said some millers had anticipated an inflow of maize from the neighbouring countries that have harvested but produce from Tanzania, he said, is difficult to access due to restrictions.

The miller in Kitale said they had procured 4,000 bags from a local trader on Tuesday, which could only go for two days.

For Rose Nasimiyu, putting food on the table is a challenge. “I have a family of six and feeding my children is a task. I use 2kg tin for one meal,” she told The Sunday Standard.

“I have never experienced hard times like this. This is the worst year. I hardly manage to afford two meals a day,” said Nasimiyu.

According to traders, they used to import maize from Uganda but the trend is changing. “The information we have is that authorities in Uganda have restricted maize exports,” said James Maina.

Even as the challenges hit consumers, maize producers are a worried lot as the fall armyworm continues to wreak havoc on farms. 

The destructive pests have not spared farms in Nandi, Uasin Gishu, and Trans Nzoia counties.

Parts of Chesumei, Mosop, and Aldai in Nandi are the worst hit.

Over 500 small-scale farmers have been affected and county director of Agriculture Mr Simeon Mutai confirmed that the majority of the farmers who are at risk of a total loss due to intermittent rains have experienced the challenge over the last three months.

“It has been raining on and off, and this has created favourable conditions for the armyworms to multiply and spread across the county. We have urged the locals to intensively use the insecticide to reduce the population of the insects,” he stated.

Mutai said the county government supplied over 1,500 farmers with insecticides to mitigate the situation.  

“The African type of armyworms normally eats young green maize by invading on the leaves of tender plants. Most of the affected regions have a friendly breeding environment for the worms,” he stated.

He claimed that the prolonged dry season accelerated the rising population of the insects and the rains have not been reliable in the southern parts of the county.

Kenya National Federation of Farmers (Kenaff) warned that the current crop is not promising owing to the impact caused by delayed planting.

Tom Nyagechaga, the organisation’s commodity representative said the food crisis is likely to continue because the current crop is not promising better yields. Unlike in the past years when planting fertiliser retailed at between Sh2,800 and Sh3,600 depending on the outlets, this year’s input hit a record of between Sh5,800 and Sh6,000.

The government subsidy was Sh3,600 but was meant for small-scale producers and limited to a maximum of 10 bags per farmer.

Mr Kipkorir Menjo, the Kenya Farmer’s Association (KFA) Director said the government should move fast and address the biting maize shortage.

“The government should bridge the shortage through imports but should also check and curb any excesses to prevent a glut when local produce is harvested,” said Menjo who also called for an enhanced subsidy programme to boost maize production.

[Titus Too, Osinde Obare, Martin Ndiema and Edward Kosut]