Farmers in Sh38 billion grain losses

Kenya’s grain farmers incur post-harvest losses of between 30 and 40 per cent, amounting to Sh38 billion annually.
Rockefeller Foundation associate director Betty Kibaara says the grain sub-sector registers huge losses due to gaps in the value chain.

“Farmers, after toiling hard to produce enough food either for consumption or to meet market demands, experience huge wastage due to poor storage facilities,” she said during the Africa Strategic Grain Reserve Conference in Nairobi, adding that the situation has led to food insecurity in the region.

Food insecurity

Kibaara said the post-harvest losses are also caused by pests and diseases, high costs charged by warehouses owners, and aflatoxin.
Kenya produces between 38 million and 40 million bags of maize annually, most of which is purchased by the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) at its 110 depots across the country.

Kibaara said the situation is more complex as the sub-Saharan region suffers food insecurity.

NCPB manages procurement and storage of maize under a programme financed by the National government through budgetary allocations.
For example, in 2015/16 financial year, the government purchased from the farmers maize at Sh2,300 per bag.

But small-scale farmers prefer holding their maize as they wait for prices to go up in the market while other sell to the private millers.

Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Cabinet secretary Willy Bett early this week confirmed that as at end of April this year, farmers were holding 5.2 million bags out of 10.9 million of total production.

The conference also noted that sometimes, due to early harvest, the maize is affected by aflatoxin and thus becomes unsuitable for the market.

Isaac Tallam, a market system expert, said governments in the region mostly concentrate on how to boost the strategic food reserves but ignores the micro-level where majority of the producers operate.

He said there is need to ensure some initiatives have been started to shield farmers from the losses.

Source: MediaMax Network