Mwaniki Wahome
8 July 2009
Nairobi — The country will have to adopt radical measures if it is to pull out of the food crisis--which could mean shifting to horticulture and instead importing maize, agricultural experts said on Wednesday.
An expert from Sower Solutions Limited, Mr Booker Owuor said the food shortage was serious with the country's Rift Valley bread basket braced for low production.
Mr Owuor was speaking on Wednesday during the release of a study on the food situation conducted between mid-last year and April 2009, titled High Commodity Prices-Who gets the money?
The problem, they said, was compounded by an over-reliance on maize as the main staple food and which has continued to register dismal performance over the years.
"Its going to be a contentious issue telling farmers to stop growing maize and shift to horticulture farming, as we have already seen in the North Rift," said the expert.
"Its not going to be easy but if we are going to have meaningful change in food security in the country, there is need to change and diversify into horticultural farming."
The country requires nine million bags of maize to feed the estimated 10 million people faced by starvation.
Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday increased the tax waiver period to January to allow grain importers cover the shortage expected due to the failed rains.
Mr Owuor said the disruption of production during the post-election crisis and the poor weather had caused the shortfall in food production which will take time to correct.
He said the shift could be to horticulture farming, which has higher margins, while importing maize from neighbouring countries, where the cost of production is low.
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