Wheat and rice farmers are set to reap from a shift in government policy that had traditionally heaped investment on production of maize, the country's staple.

The shift promises increased investment in rice, wheat, indigenous root crops like yams, cassava, sweet potatoes and arrow roots; and traditional cereals like millet and sorghum that are more suited to drier climate.

The review is informed by three seasons of successful crop failure due to prolonged drought and lack of irrigation facilities.

"Wheat and rice are increasingly becoming staple foods for our people, yet we produce less than 50 per cent of our requirements. With the expansion of irrigated agriculture our rice production is increasing," President Mwai Kibaki said at the opening of this year's Nairobi International Trade Fair on Wednesday.

From independence, the government has concentrated on maize to boost the country's food security.

But despite the billions of shillings that have been pumped in increasing productivity locally and importation from international market, the country is still wallowing in food insecurity as millions starve.

Just like wheat and rice which receive minimal attention from the government, the country's maize production has assumed a downward trend over the last two years.

Government statistics show that the country's maize production declined from 32.5 million bags (2.9 million tonnes) in 2007 to 26 million bags (2.3 million tonnes). Over the same period, wheat production also declined by 23.6 per cent to 86.2 tonnes from 112.9 tonnes in 2007.

Experts believe that country's food outlook can improve significantly if the government extends the same interventions to other cereal crops.

In the ensuing efforts to reduce hunger pangs, only maize is enjoying duty free importation while wheat and rice importers face Comesa tariffs that are chargeable up to 2012.

At the moment, only maize has a defined strategic grain reserve (SGR) size that enjoys a slice of the national budget every year to replenish.

Even in the recently announced marshal plan that is meant to revive the country's agricultural sector and boost food sufficiency, experts have sounded warning that it lays too much emphasis on maize, a crop that has failed the country for several decades. It is maize farmers who have been lined up to get free seeds and inputs like fertilisers at subsidised cost.

"For the first time since we started experiencing drought, we have now allocated some Sh800 million for the purchase and distribution of seeds free of charge to farmers who are on famine relief throughout the country," said the president.

On Tuesday, after the food security review meeting held in his office, President Kibaki directed the Ministry of Finance to avail an additional Sh1 billion for the purchase of maize seeds to be used by farmers in regions that are likely to experience El nino rains.

Ms Constantine Kandie, the Eastern African Grain Council executive director, argues that while government is on the right path with its focus on agriculture as a way of alleviating hunger and poverty in the country, a lot needs to be done.

Food security"We cannot equate maize shortages to food shortages forever, we must begin to adopt and spread our staples across various food crops and take care of our ecosystems if the measures are to be sustainable," she told Business Daily.

Ms Kandie reckons that the production and trade systems in grain must be streamlined to guarantee national and household food security.

"Regional grain trade is still characterised by a fragmented, uncoordinated system that impedes the free flow of maize from surplus to deficit areas both within the country and across borders," she said.

A recent study by the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis (Kippra) indicates that national cereals consumption trend is fast changing in the country with the number that is switching to rice rising sharply to 12 per cent per annum compared to seven per cent for wheat and only four per cent for maize.

Currently, Kenya imports about 70 per cent of its rice and 60 per cent of wheat for domestic consumption, a situation that food security analysts say can easily be reversed.

Agriculture ministry statistics indicate that the total paddy rice production decreased to 40,065 tonnes in the 2007/8 season compared to 53,113 tonnes of the 2006/7 production period.