Nairobi — Kenyans have been implored to consume other foodstuffs away from maize due to the current shortage being witnessed across the world.
Appearing before the House Committee on Agriculture and Livestock, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi told MPs that his ministry has been facing challenges in accessing maize imports from food reserves of other countries.
The Agriculture Ministry boss asked Kenyans to substitute maize with rice and potatoes due to the acute shortage.
"The sad story out there is that maize is such a rare commodity that we are not able to get maize out there. During your weekend outings and interaction with your constituents let them also try appreciating that rice can be a substitute for starch, potatoes, and others," Linturi said.
"Some countries are not willing to share their maize with us because they are more concerned about their food security situation," he added.
The CS revealed that in the next ten days, the prices of Unga will have dropped as the government is set to import 1.4 million metric tonnes of maize and 1.1 metric tonnes of rice to address the acute shortage of the commodities in the market.
The government will also bring in a further 500,000 tonnes of yellow maize for animal feed.
"Those are some of the interventions that we have just made in the short term to address the deficits we can foresee in the very near future," stated Linturi.
The CS revealed that so far they had imported 1,305 metric tonnes of maize and 43,173 tonnes of rice in the country asking farmers who are still hoarding maize to release the commodity in the market.
"Ordinarily prices are supposed to be fixed in a normal market by the forces of demand and supply.The government has put a duty waiver and we expect once the commodity comes into the country then the prices of these commodities will come down," Linturi said.
A 90kg bag of maize is currently going for an average price of Sh5,600 but this may drop significantly to as low as less than Sh2,000 with cheaper imports.
This comes days after the National Treasury has allowed the importation of 500,000 metric tons of maize on duty-free status until August 6.
In a gazette notice dated March 17, the exchequer noted that the imported white maize grain shall have a moisture content not exceeding 13.5pc , aflatoxin levels shall not exceed ten (10) parts per billion accompanied by a certificate of conformity issued by the Kenya Bureau of Standards.
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"....that Import Duty Waiver has been granted for registered millers and traders to import a total of 500,000 metric tons of white maize grain from March 2023 to 6th August 2023," stated the gazette notice.
The move by the government is to allow duty-free imports of maize in line with a government directive to alleviate the current food shortage/costs crisis which has been primarily driven by the biting drought across the year.
The Ministry of Agriculture had halted the importation to allow millers to mop out local maize from farmers during the harvest season.
At least 250 traders have applied for import licenses to bring in maize under the duty-free window as they seek to cash in on the waiver issued by the government.
The government opened a window for the importation to ease the runaway cost of flour that has remained high for the last couple of months with a two-kilo packet hitting Sh200.
It's also a relief for feed millers as the government allowed animal feed manufacturers to import 500,000 tonnes of yellow maize duty-free before August 6th,2023.
Millers had petitioned the government to introduce an array of measures, including allowing yellow maize to be processed for consumption by animals, to tackle the biting grain shortage and cushion consumers against rising prices of flour and other food items.
