Miller Magazine Issue: 118 October 2019

KENYA 95 MILLER / OCTOBER 2019 Kenya’s high rainfall areas constitute about 10 per- cent of its arable land and produce 70 percent of na- tional commercial agricultural output. Kenya has been undertaking agricultural sector reforms that are ex- pected to spur growth. A new regulatory framework, arising from the consolidation and harmonization of the sectoral laws is under implementation. CORN IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STAPLE FOOD Corn remains the most important staple food in Kenya and its consumption continues to increase de- spite calls by the Government of Kenya for diet diver- sification. Corn is also a key raw material in animal feeds. Kenya is a corn deficit country, necessitating importation mainly from the East African Community (EAC) countries. Imports from outside the EAC cur- rently attract a steep external ad valorem tariff of fifty percent, unless waived by EAC for a specific period to address dire shortages. Kenya’s corn sector is faced with huge post-harvest losses (estimated at between 30-40%) due to low ca- pacity in farm, and community level storage and han- dling infrastructure. At the national level, storage and handling functions are dominated by NCPB, which is a major misalignment of storage capacity and surplus production areas. USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) forecasts a dip in Kenya’s harvested corn area in marketing year (MY) 2019/2020 due to low morale among farmers caused by a marketing crisis that engulfed the sector