Kenya Working on Ways to Avoid Maize Shortages as Prices Rise

The elections in August offered Kenyans a temporary distraction from some of the challenges the country is facing. At the top of these challenges is food insecurity. In 2022, the country has experienced higher food prices than ever before. Among the commodities that have seen high price increases is maize. This staple food has doubled in price in a year.

Food price inflation, although the result of a "perfect storm", will be high on the agenda for the new administration, which has promised to develop a lasting solution.

The Covid-19 pandemic, droughts registered in the past four decades and the Russian war in Ukraine affected supply not only of grains, but also of key inputs such as fertiliser.

These shocks occurred simultaneously. But long-standing issues in Kenya must be resolved anyway if the country is to be self-sufficient in staples, such as maize.

Although in some years the country has registered increases in maize production, this has come primarily from area expansion rather than from productivity increases. There is a need to support county governments to revive extension and advisory systems. Robust systems make it clearer what farmers are purchasing with subsidies and how productivity is affected, reports Timothy Njagi Njeru for The Conversation.