By MTK Correspondent
The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development projects that farmers in the country will produce an estimated 75.9 million 50 kg bags of maize for the long rains season based on the achieved acreage of 1.64 million Ha and an estimated average yield of 42 bags per acre.
Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary Dr. Andrew Karanja said that they anticipate that cumulatively, the annual production will hit 94.4 million bags based on the projected total annual acreage of 2.71 million Ha.
“The past two seasons have been very good in terms of weather and the government fertiliser subsidy and input supply. The food situation in the country is very good,” said Dr. Karanja.
CS said that the government has instructed NCPB to purchase one million 90 kg bags of maize for the strategic food reserve at a price of Sh3,500 per bag.
He explained that there is pressure to buy the maize at higher prices, but after careful analysis, they realised that the cost of production has slightly come down because last year the farmers were getting the government-subsidised fertiliser at Sh3,500, and this year there has been a drop of Sh1,000 to retail at Sh2,500.
Dr. Karanja said that the pressure is also in balancing the price of maize and the cost of Unga, explaining that if the price of maize goes high, the same will apply to a packet of Unga, which is currently retailing at an average of Sh120.
“By the time we were announcing the price of Sh3,500, farmers were getting Sh2,800 from the market, but the prices have started going up due to government interventions,” he said.
Dr. Karanja highlighted that about 6.3 million bags of beans are expected to be harvested by the end of December 2024, adding that this will bring the total stock of beans to 12.2 million bags of 50 kg by the end of December 2024.
“For wheat, we expect a harvest of 1.8 million bags at the end of December 2024. The challenge is that millers have not been buying wheat from the farmers very well, but we are working with them to ensure that the farmers are able to get good returns from their produce,” said the CS.
Dr. Karanja said that the rice balance sheet projection indicates that the country will have a surplus of 2.7 million 50 kg bags by the end of December 2024. The estimated production for 2024 is 3.29 million bags of 50 kg paddy rice from a total area of production of 35,496 HA.
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