Food crisis to persist as farmers record low yield
A trader sorts tomatoes at her stand at Chaka market in Nyeri County. Kenya’s food security in 2023 remains in jeopardy following the third round of dismal agricultural performance, with the third quarter of 2022 recording yet another contraction.
Kenya’s food security in 2023 remains in jeopardy following the third round of dismal agricultural performance, with the third quarter of 2022 recording yet another contraction.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) quarterly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report for July- September 2022 shows that the Agriculture sector recorded a contraction of 0.6 per cent. This follows a series of two consecutive contractions in the first quarters of the year, where the sector recorded a 0.7 per cent contraction between April and June and 1.2 per cent between January and March.
The KNBS report showed that while the GDP recorded a 4.7 per cent growth during the third quarter of 2022, Agriculture continued to struggle due to unfavourable weather conditions witnessed throughout the year.
“The agriculture sector recorded a contraction of 0.6 per cent in the quarter under review compared to a growth of 0.6 per cent recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2021. The slowdown in the performance of the sector was mainly attributed to unfavourable weather conditions that prevailed in the first three-quarters of 2022” KNBS stated.
Tough times ahead
The continued dismal performance of the sector touted as Kenya’s economic backbone warns of tough times for households in the coming months, even after they endured some of the most expensive food prices in 2022.
Food prices remained high in the country through 2022, pushing up inflation figures to a high of 9.6 per cent in October and 9.1 per cent in December, when food inflation was 13.8 per cent.
The government was in July forced to introduce a maize flour subsidy to count prices that had shot beyond Sh200 for a 2kg maize flour packet, which failed to address the high prices.
KNBS in the quarterly GDP report stated that the performance already started affecting vegetable exports and milk intake by processors during the quarter, which declined by 26.1 per cent and 10.7 per cent respectively.
“Vegetable exports declined from 18,685.4 metric tonnes in the third quarter of 2021 to 13,807.8 metric tonnes in the quarter under review. The amount of milk delivered to processors reduced to 186.96 million litres in the third quarter of 2022 from 209.28 million litres recorded in the same quarter of 2021,” the report showed.
Among the sub-sectors that sustained the country’s agriculture during the three months were fruits, coffee and cane.
“During the period under review, fruit exports grew by 53.9 per cent compared to a contraction of 19.9 per cent in the third quarter of 2021. Coffee production more than doubled to stand at 9,900.7 metric tonnes in the third quarter of 2022, up from 4,646.5 metric tonnes in the corresponding quarter of 2021. Similarly, cane deliveries rose by 6.0 per cent in the third quarter of 2022 to stand at 648.2 metric tonnes,” KNBS stated.
