Business Daily (Nairobi)
Jim Onyango
28 August 2007
Kenya has enough food stocks to take it to the end of the year, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday as it launched new drought and disease resistant seed varieties that mature faster.
The high yielding maize, sugarcane and wheat seeds will enhance the country's food security, said Agriculture minister Kipruto Kirwa at the ministry's headquarters yesterday when he unveiled the seeds developed by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute.
The seeds will be marketed by 53 seed companies registered in Kenya, among them the Kenya Seed Company and Western Seed company.
Kirwa said the country had adequate seeds and urged farmers to buy the new varieties which he said would use limited moisture in the soil and could be planted in dry areas. He said the new seeds yielded more by resisting diseases. "The seeds have undergone tests and are ready for use by the public.
Technology keeps changing. These new seeds are far much better than the ones farmers used last year and we are sure to have a good strategic reserve if farmers used them," said Kirwa.
The minister said the seeds would guarantee Kenya's foods security and urged seed distributors to move with speed and make them available to farmers at reasonable costs, adding that exorbitant seed prices prevented farmers from using them.
Kenya will also market the seeds to farmers in Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan and the DR Congo.
The Government also unveiled plans to strengthen the country's seed industry to attract investment from the private sector.
He said the country had 36 million bags of maize in stock compared to 26 million bags stored last year.
"Next year the country will store up to 38 million bags as we move towards food sufficiency. If farmers use the new seeds we will achieve good yields," said the minister.
According to World Food Programme's Kenya Food Security Update for July 2007, poor rains in parts of pastoral and marginal agricultural areas could precipitate food shortages this year.
The report says overall prognosis for the 2007 cropping season was good in key growing areas but poor in the southeastern marginal agricultural districts.
Kirwa asked farmers to use the new seed variety if the country is to improve its strategic food reserve. But he also asked seed vendors to lower prices.
"Many small scale farmers still rely on own traditional seeds because of high costs.
Distributors also have limited investment retail network. They must make the seeds available to farmers at a good price." said the minister.
He indicated that he will be moving to amend the seed and plants varieties Act so as to enforce certification and ensure seed distributed in the country conformed to required standards.
He said the Government would harmonies seed laws and regulations in the region so that seed produced outside the country could be accepted by local farmers. The minister said it was regrettable that about 80 per cent of the total seed planted in Kenya originated from the informal sector.
"The Government intends to intervene in the seed industry so as to help in the development of appropriate seed varieties and ensure that farmers are consulted in the seed development process," he said.
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