Nyeri — A non-governmental organization is appealing to the State to go slow on its plans to lease land in Zambia for purposes of growing maize.
Greenpeace Africa says while the idea is noble, its implementation should not be rushed until the country exhausts all the locally available options.
The lobby group's Communication Manager Hellen Dena therefore wants Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi to halt the plans and instead explore other opportunities available in the country including putting to use large tracts of idle but arable land into use.
In a press statement to media houses Tuesday, Dena said, "While we acknowledge the government's efforts to bring down the cost of food and rescue its population from hunger, we are perturbed by the decision by the Ministry of Agriculture to lease land in Zambia to grow maize when Kenya has 5,800,000 hectares of arable land."
"Maize is and has been Kenya's staple food for decades. A country that is not able to grow its own staple food exposes itself to all kinds of social and economic vulnerability. Production of maize locally means that many other local businesses benefit in the process," notes Dena.
Last month, Linturi signed a memorandum of understanding with his Zambian counterpart Reuben Mtolo to have put 49,000 acres of land in Zambia under maize and afterwards export the produce back into the country.
While inking the deal, Linturi said the move would help plug the current maize deficit in the country by allowing Kenyan farmers to get permits to practice farming in Zambia and export the food to Kenya.
"The government will do everything possible to bring down the cost of food by adopting creative measures like such collaborations. I am happy that the government of Zambia is willing to offer Kenyan farmers farm blocks where they can produce food for export markets," Linturi said.
On his part, Mtolo said Zambia's weather patterns are conducive for food production and therefore ideal for Kenya's pursuit in attaining food security.
"We have agreed to allow Kenyan farmers to start large-scale farming in Zambia and export their harvests to Kenya. We have one of the best farms and weather in Zambia which is favourable for farming and it will be beneficial to Kenyans," Mtolo said.
But Dena is now advising the government to rope in small scale maize producers by providing them with much needed expertise and farming inputs instead of spending a fortune in foreign land in the name of boosting food production.
She has also supported President Dr William Ruto for his decision to subsidize farm inputs like fertilizer and seeds saying the high cost of inputs is largely to blame for the current food shortage in the country.
"President Ruto talked big on the bottom-up approach and supporting smallholder farmers to produce more; sourcing maize from Zambia is a deviation by the Ministry of Agriculture on the president's commitment. We have enough land in Kenya to grow maize; our farmers are more than capable of doing it here. All they need is support from the Ministry of Agriculture and a conducive partnership between government, farmers and other key players in the sector," she said.
"Instead of looking somewhere else for solutions to Kenya's perennial food insecurity, Hon. Mithika Linturi should be finding ways to bring the cost of production down by subsidizing the cost of inputs and supporting farmers to use sustainable forms of agriculture that ensure healthy food at a lower cost," she insists.
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Kenya mainly imports maize, unmilled wheat and wheat flour, rice, and sugar from Uganda, South Africa, Europe, India, and the United States.
Between 2022 and 2023, Kenya's maize production was forecast at 3.2 million metric tonnes (MMT), largely unchanged from previous year due to high fertilizer prices and farmers switching to alternative crops.
The country's wheat consumption is expected to rise to 2.25 MMT from 2.2 MMT as tourism and restaurants bounce back from COVID-19 restrictions of 2020.
Kenya's rice production is predicted to increase to 90,000 metric tonnes (MT) from 80,000 MT due to an expansion of the Mwea irrigation scheme following the completion of the Thiba Dam.
A Kenya National Bureau of Statistics showed that food import prices rose 18 per cent to 183.93 billion shillings in 2022 from Sh155.42 billion during the same period in 2021.
