A story about some Embu County farmer who razed down his mango trees jolted me. He was fed up! Motivated by prospects that a processing factory would be established nearby, he invested heavily in a mango plantation.
But the factory never got functional. He subsequently found himself saddled up with mangoes without a market.
Noticing the desperation of such farmers, brokers offer unacceptably low farm-level prices to maximise profits.
Mangoes in Embu, therefore, continue to waste away for lack of reliable markets. I’ve heard a nearly similar story with bananas.
Indeed, many counties have their dispiriting stories with farm produce. Nyandarua has often been in the news over milk and cabbage going to waste for lack of transportation or market.
Just recently, farmers in parts of the Rift Valley protested loudly when the government announced plans to import maize while their stocks were yet to sell.
The prevailing state of affairs in our food chain baffles. Our inability to connect existing demand to supply is appalling.
For instance, whenever I travel north past Isiolo and Garissa towns, it becomes a nightmare to access fruits and green vegetables even in standard hospitality outlets.
One also notices general food shortages. Yet, some neighbouring counties have surplus stocks.
While I am not a guru in the field, one feels that a lot more could be done to make agribusiness lucrative, and in the process address the existing food deficits in some counties.
Evidently, farmers in various parts of the country can transform their financial fortunes if well facilitated.
If the necessary coordination cannot be done at the national level, then counties could organise themselves and establish befitting inter-county trade mechanisms.
Marsabit and Isiolo counties could, for instance, establish structured mechanisms for trade in fresh produce, cereals and meat with the counties of Meru, Tharaka-Nithi and Embu or with Nyeri and Nyandarua.
This would perhaps only require the establishment of appropriate megastores, collection centres and dedicated transport platforms.
Enforcement and traffic officers would have to be integrated to ensure the fast flow of goods traffic, even as they police roads for illicit cargo.
Moreover, a county like Makueni teaches simple lessons. Fruit processing factories could be established in producing zones to enhance market accessibility and avert waste.
Similar factories could be established for most farm and dairy produce. This will provide farmers with reliable markets. Where possible, they can be guided to form Saccos for scale.
And I suspect that many food-deficient nations, especially in the Middle East, would gladly partner with local entrepreneurs and counties to establish local food processing facilities.
Luckily, several entrepreneurs have established online marketing platforms linking some farmers to markets. These would be good partners since they’ve vital data.
However, enabling policy and legal environments will be required. With consultations, this should be easy to fix. Nonetheless, all these calls for concerted leadership on the part of the government.
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