Food shortage looms as La Nina returns to stunt growth

More incentives

In a Press release issued on Monday, the National Social Economic Council (NESC), a policy think tank that advises the government on Vision 2030, said more incentives were needed to support the growth in the labour intensive manufacturing sector and to provide employment to more Kenyans.

The dry weather in the last quarter means the economy which recorded modest growth figures first quarter of the year may not achieve the overall 5.2 per cent that NESC has set for this year.

“For Kenya to grow at levels of five per cent or more, there is need for good weather, food availability and general growth in economies of other east African countries,” Mr Job Kihumba, Executive Director at the Standard Investment Bank said.

Growing optimism and good rains experienced in the first half of the year had given economic planners the confidence to revise the previous growth target of 4.5 per cent upwards with target of double digit figure being set for 2012.

A prolonged drought that extended into the first half of last year pushed down the country’s growth to 2.6 per cent last year – a snail pace compared to the robust 7.2 per cent of 2007 before the droughts started

On Tuesday, weathermen warned that the la nina conditions could force the government into diverting resources from productive segments to support emergencies such as providing relief food to distressed communities.