World Bank offers Sh40m to boost food production

The food crisis in Kenya has caught the attention of donors with World Bank offering Sh40 million to assist small-scale farmers increase maize production.

The money is a grant, meaning Kenya will not repay it. It is part of the bank’s efforts to help countries experiencing food shortages. “Kenyans are experiencing significant food shortages due to the 2008 post-election crisis that affected the output of grains and cereals from the country’s bread basket,” says Johannes Zutt, the country director for Kenya.

“The situation has been aggravated by the high cost of agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertiliser, and the impact of the current global economic crisis on agricultural value chains,” he says. Food shortage, which has left over 10 million Kenyans hungry, has forced the government to divert budgetary development funding to import maize.

To finance the import, Treasury is set to table a supplementary budget to seek parliament’s approval to spend an additional Sh25 billion to subsidise food prices in the country.

WB’s money will be disseminated through the ongoing government programme under the National Accelerated Agricultural Inputs Access Programme, where farmers are issued with seed and fertiliser vouchers. The scheme targets at least 50,000 smallholder farmers in six maize producing districts in the Rift Valley.

High fuel prices are said to have increased the cost of fertilisers by over 200 per cent between January and April 2008, forcing farmers to plant without them. This led to a drop in crop production fell by 25 per cent.