NAIROBI, June 17 (Xinhua) -- The Kenyan government said Tuesday it has put in place elaborate measures aimed at averting the looming food shortage in the country.
Permanent Secretary in the ministry of agriculture Romano Kiome told the ongoing 25th Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) regional conference in Nairobi that his government has also instituted intervention measures to cushion citizens against the looming starvation amidst fears of running out of food in August.
Kiome said that the government is prepared to deal with the threatening food crisis in a manner that would guarantee the people with adequate food for consumption while increasing local production.
"We will be running out of food in August. As the government we are prepared to import enough bags of maize about eight million bags for consumption that will last us between two to two and half months," he said.
The government had projected that the current maize stocks would sustain local needs up to August this year when a new crop would be harvested.
But these may be depleted much faster, according to the National Cereals and Produce Board, citing increased demand for stocks.
Kiome said the government had already stepped up measures such as increased importation of maize, control of agricultural input prices and reduction or removal of taxes on importation of food stuff.
He said that the country had no other alternative but to import in order to meet the weekly consumption requirements of between 100,000 to 150,000 bags of maize for the survival of the vulnerable population while maintaining a management balance to make sure local farmers do not suffer losses.
"When we talk of controlling prices we do not really mean we are subsidizing because we do not have the capacity to do that," said Kiome.
"We are only after managing the market for the benefit of the farmers as we realize the costs of fertilizers has continued to skyrocket affecting their performance," he said.
Agricultural experts are warning of serious declines in production that may fall to as low as 50 per cent of the annual production figures.
Kiome has raised concerns that only 15 to 50 percent of land in the North Rift has been prepared, a factor he attributes to post-election violence.
Under normal circumstances, 50 to 80 percent of the land in these areas would be prepared by end of February in readiness for planting.
And with the planting season almost over, his fears appear to have been compounded considering the dismal purchase of maize seeds by farmers in the main maize growing areas.
Kiome expressed the government's commitment towards reducing the cost of agricultural inputs, saying the government would henceforth control a large proportion of seeds at about 70 per cent and fertilizers 40 per cent through state corporations to ensure that farmers purchase the commodities at affordable prices.
The Kenya Seed has seen its sales drop by 11 percent. However, the company believes the rising cost of fuel and fertilizer are the main cause of the drop in sales and not post-election violence as majority of the farmers are still in their farms.
Indeed, the escalating cost of farm inputs has forced many farmers either to cut down on acreage under cultivation of grains like maize and wheat or resort to planting without fertilizer.
The fuel costs for land preparation have risen from 1,200 shillings to 2,300 shillings (36 dollars) per acre. The price of fertilizer has almost doubled from 1,850 shillings (29 dollars) to3,400 shillings (53 dollars) per 50kg bag with Kakamega and Bungoma recording prices as high as 4,000 shillings (63 dollars).
The government has pledged to institute parallel importation of fertilizer and sell it at a reduced price to farmers. As the planting season is nearly over and not a single bag of fertilizer has been imported.
The impact of reduced acreage and non-application of fertilizer may not be obvious now, but will be in August when the current supplies have completely run out.
