Kenyans starve as food worth millions of shillings rots

Food worth millions of shillings is rotting on farms across the country due to lack of markets and impassable roads.

From Marakwet in the North Rift to Mathira in Central and Hola at the Coast, it is the same story of anger and disappointment at wasted labour.

The irony is that all this food is going to waste in a country where some citizens are starving.

Nowhere is the situation as dire as the Hola Irrigation Scheme in Tana River District.

Farmers at the scheme, celebrating a bumper harvest for the first time in 20 years, are a bitterly disappointed lot.

Failed to buy

More than 200 tonnes of maize from the scheme revived last year by President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga are rotting after the National Cereals and Produce Board failed to buy the crop.

The scheme was revived under the National Economic Stimulus Programme late last year. 

Farmers said they could not believe this was the same government that was frustrating them, just three months after encouraging them to produce the maize.

“What are we supposed to do? How can the government do this to us? How can it let us invest so much only to leave our crops to rot?” demands Mr Said Mugawa of Hola Farmers Cooperative Society. 

Mr Mugawa said all efforts to sell the maize to the NCPB had failed. Delegations sent to the Ministry of Agriculture in Nairobi to beg it to buy the maize have also been in vain. 

Allocated money

“We are constantly told the government has not allocated the money to buy our maize,” he said. 

The farmers had put 850 acres out 1,240 under maize.  

“Our stores, which can accommodate only 3,000 bags are full. A lot of maize is still on the farm, rotting and has been there for more than a month,” Mr Mugawa said. 

Ms Fatuma Galgalo, the chairperson of the Hola Farmers Advisory Committee, said the maize was at risk of contamination by aflatoxin. 

“Although the crop was tested and approved for human consumption, we fear that with continued exposure to moisture and other conditions, it could soon be contaminated,” she said. 

“Our children are at home as we are unable to pay school fees. We are so worried as life has ground to a halt at the scheme,” said Mr Mugawa. 

Agriculture minister William Ruto toured the scheme in January and assured the farmers that the NCPB would buy their crop. 

Mr Alex Wainaina, the manager of the scheme, is a depressed man after seeing all the farmers’ efforts going down the drain.

“It’s hard to comprehend when one reflects on the hard work we all put in to revive the scheme,” he said. 

“It is very sad that the country does not have enough food while here, tonnes and tonnes of maize are going to waste,” he said.

In the North Rift, thousands of litres of milk are going to waste as a result of increased production that has stretched the processing capacity of New Kenya Cooperative Creameries (New KCC) and private dairies.

Counting losses

Horticultural farmers are also counting their losses with produce worth more than Sh35 million also going to waste.

Uasin Gishu District earned more than Sh27 million from vegetables last year and Sh3.4 million from fruits.

“The heavy rains have made it impossible to access markets for our produce despite the plentiful harvest,” said Ms Rachael Chematia from Tot in Marakwet District.

Landslides have hit parts of Kerio Valley, making most roads impassable.

Dairy farmers incurred losses of more than Sh2.5 million in two months after their milk went to waste due to lack of markets.

The region has an estimated 1.2 million dairy cows and between 400,000 and 500,000 heifers.

“Attractive prices offered by New KCC and support from international partners motivated us to venture into modern dairy farming but we can no longer sell the produce to anyone,” complained Mr John Kiptoo of Chepkumia, Nandi South District.

Daily milk deliveries to the New KCC factory in Eldoret has doubled from 40,000 litres to 80,000 litres in the last two months but the plant can only process 6,000 litres. “A serious milk glut is expected in the next six months as production will be high because most parts of the country will have adequate pastures due to the rains,” said Mr Kiptoo.

“The government should improve the roads for easier transportation of inputs and produce to avoid exploitation by cartels,” said Mr Musa Barno of the Kenya Federation of Agricultural Producers Uasin Gishu chapter.

Grain farmers in the region are having difficulties selling more than 600,000 bags of maize harvested last season.

“The pathetic state of the roads has made it impossible to get our produce to the markets,” said Mr Peter Boit, a large-scale farmer in the district.

A survey by the Nation showed that farmers are to incur more losses as they have not yet started shelling their maize.

Sources at the NCPB say deliveries from farmers had shot up to an average 15,000 bags from 4,000 two months ago. The board pays Sh2,300 for a 90kg bag.

“We intended to buy 1.5 million bags of maize from last season’s produce but we might only be able to get 800,000 bags,” an official said.

Farmers in Uasin Gishu harvested 4.3 million bags of maize last year from 85,697 hectares while those in Trans Nzoia District harvested 5.3 million bags.

Wheat production in the region declined from 3.7 million to 2.8 million bags last season due to erratic climatic conditions.

“We have nowhere to sell our wheat as we can not get to the markets,” said Mr Joseph Kipkoech of Kaptagat, who has 150 bags of wheat in his store.

“We are forced to sell our produce at throwaway prices to get money for inputs but a glut in the market has pushed prices down,” said Ms Leah Chemasunde, a maize farmer at Moi’s Bridge.

The drop in prices and poor state of roads come at a time when fertiliser costs between Sh1,800 and Sh2,300 a bag, which farmers say is too high.

The government, through the ministry of Agriculture, has delivered 500,000 bags of subsidised fertiliser to the North Rift for this season’s planting.

The fertiliser is sold through NCPB depots but farmers say the clearing process is too slow.

The lack of market for ready produce is hurting farmers as they need money to buy farm inputs for the coming planting season.