Food stocks run low as virus slows down imports, output

Kenya is set to run out of nearly all its basic foodstuff by end of next month in what could fuel commodity hoarding and price rallies in the coming weeks.

The country’s stock of cereals and long life milk could be exhausted by the end of next month, the official national food status report shows.

With a national maize consumption rate of 4.25 million bags per month, the stock of 3,450,869 that the government says will be left in public and private hands at the start of June can hardly last up to the end of next month.

“As of May 31, the country will have 18,702,100 bags of maize stockpile, and with 10 percent storage loss and about 110,000 used for animal feeds, there will be a deficit of 799, 131 bags by end of June, ” states latest Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives staple food balance.

For wheat with a national consumption rate of two million bags per month, the country will have a stock of 737,822 bags by end of June while there will be 455,716 bags of sorghum, against a national consumption rate of 219,900 per month. Similarly, the national stock of rice - consumed at the rate of 615,740 bags per month - will 411,580 at the end of June.

The UHT milk consumed at 84.4 million litres per month and powdered milk (3.4 million kilogrammes per month) will have a June 30 balance of 4.4 million litres and 1.4 million kilogrammes respectively.

The report shows significant portion of the food stock will be lost in stores due to attack by pests and contaminants such as aflatoxin.

This week, agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya was quoted as having told a Senate Committee that all the maize under the strategic grain reserves had been contaminated by aflatoxin, a harmful and cancer-causing fungi, rendering it unfit for human consumption.

Last week, the National Treasury cut duty on maize from 50 percent to between 10 percent (yellow) and 14 percent (white maize) but millers have rejected the April 20 to May 30 timeframe saying it is too short given the Covid-19 situation.