The value of basic grains ordered through the Port of Mombasa increased by Sh175.51 billion in the year ended June, government statistics show, highlighting Kenya’s reliance on foreign suppliers to feed its citizens.
The value of rice, maize, wheat, beans and soya beans shipped in by traders through the port increased to nearly Sh371.04 billion from Sh195.53 billion the year before, data captured by Kenya Trade Network Agency (KenTrade) indicate.
The steep 89.76 percent rise in the staple food imports into Kenya and other land-locked countries such as Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Burundi and DRC — which largely rely on the seaport for imports — is a pointer of food deficits as a result of relying on rain-fed farming.
The value of basic grains ordered through the Port of Mombasa increased by Sh175.51 billion in the year ended June, government statistics show, highlighting Kenya’s reliance on foreign suppliers to feed its citizens.
The value of rice, maize, wheat, beans and soya beans shipped in by traders through the port increased to nearly Sh371.04 billion from Sh195.53 billion the year before, data captured by Kenya Trade Network Agency (KenTrade) indicate.
The steep 89.76 percent rise in the staple food imports into Kenya and other land-locked countries such as Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Burundi and DRC — which largely rely on the seaport for imports — is a pointer of food deficits as a result of relying on rain-fed farming.
Kenya imports two thirds of national rice consumption, about the same proportion of domestic wheat uptake and at least two-thirds of its soya beans needs. Delayed onset of long rains season earlier in the year threatened to plunge the region into a food crisis.
Food Security and Nutrition Working Group warned that the delayed rains had resulted in below-average crop production in some agro-pastoral and marginal mixed farming areas in the region.
This nutrition platform championed by UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and IGAD’s Climate Prediction and Applications (ICPAC), had predicted a crisis if the drought persisted to June.
The rains, however, kicked in from May, helping to boost food production.
KenTrade, the State agency managing imports, show traders splashed Sh218.74 billion on rice imports over the 12-month period, a growth of 82.68 percent.Some 1.63 million tonnes of rice came in, 23 percent more than 1.33 million tonnes a year earlier. Maize registered a 61.15 percent a drop in import stocks to 245.08 million tonnes worth Sh9.86 billion that was 72.62 percent less than Sh36.01 billion spent the year before.
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