Kenya is expected to harvest more than 17 million bags of maize from six counties, a new study shows.
Last month, Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi said the country is expecting a bumper harvest this year after the government issued farmers with subsidised fertiliser.
He said the average national maize consumption is around 50 million to 52 million bags per year, which will come from the harvest.
Vincent Imala, a researcher and author of the research findings, said that the bumper harvest is due to the subsidised fertiliser and an increase in the land acreage of up to eight per cent.
The research conducted by the Directorate of Resource Surveys and Remote Sensing (DRSRS) Kenya showed that the country will harvest 17,044,503 bags of maize from the six counties.
These counties include Bungoma, Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Kakamega, Nandi and Vihiga.
Head of Public Service Felix Koskei assured Kenyans that the government would start repairing the National Cereals and Produce Board depots across the country in preparation for a bumper maize harvest.
He said the government will repair 36 mobile driers and purchase 70 more as part of it's efforts towards post-harvest management of farmers' produce.
Koskei also said the road network in the North Rift will be improved and feeder roads opened up so farmers can transport their produce to NCPB stores with ease.
This comes at a time when maize flour prices are still at a high of an average of Sh200 per 2kg packet, while a 90kg bag of maize is selling at between Sh4,800 and Sh5,200.
“The area under targeted maize in the six counties cumulatively increased by about 8 per cent from 399,663Ha in 2022 to 464,491Ha in 2023," Imala said.
He spoke during a side event at the Regional Centre for Mapping and Resources's three-day international conference held in Nairobi last week.
Imala said the fieldwork was done between July 10th and 25th in six counties covering a total area of 1,536,561.4Ha.
The researcher said globally, land available for food production has declined and the intensification of agriculture, higher yielding varieties and import substitution are likely to drive national policy agenda.
“In Kenya, maize remains the main staple food averaging over 80 per cent of total cereals used at the household level," Imala said.
The data was collected by the use of remote sensing technology that estimated the area, yield and production of maize in the high potential areas of Kenya.
The method was through the use of Earth Observation data from optical satellites that provide a unique source of information to monitor crop growth.
Imala said through the use of technology known as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) an indicator used to determine the health of a plant one can easily predict the expected status of yield.
"In order to improve results on maize area, there is need to use high resolution satellite imageries, and setting up remote monitoring sites in the agricultural landscapes,” he added.
Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) is an inter-governmental organisation under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Union (AU).
The organisation works to strengthen the member states and stakeholders’ capacity through generation, application and dissemination of geo-information and Allied Technologies for sustainable development.
Source: The Star