Feed Kenyans by using the right strategies

What you need to know:

  • Post-harvest management is a serious problem in poor countries. Kenya’s food loss ranges from 20 to 50 per cent, depending on the produce.
  • In fact, FAO estimates that in 10 years, 70 per cent of available seeds will be patented. There are fears that up to 90 per cent of the world hungry will simply not afford food because of the high prices set by global agribusinesses.

About 10 million Kenyans face food shortages at any given time. Among them, three million need prolonged food assistance.

Food security is when people have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy life at all times.

To address food insecurity, Kenya must urgently implement the specific intervention policies broadly defined in the new national food security documents, by breaking then into three levels: production, distribution and post-harvest management.

At production level, we must address the challenges faced by small-scale farmers who meet over 60 per cent of national food needs.

New farming methods are needed to mitigate declining soil fertility and land fragmentation. Within a generation, net food production in high density areas like Nyeri has declined by almost 70 per cent.

Needed are specific interventions encouraging inexpensive technology like water harvesting and chemical and organic fertilisers application.

Poor distribution strategies and infrastructure compound the food problem. This is familiar: food is rotting in Kinangop, but there is not enough of it in lower Eastern province 200 kilometres away. Interventions must hinge on how to move food from surplus areas to deficit regions as cheaply and rapidly as possible.

In Kenya, the cost of transport accounts for half the price of basic food in food-deficit regions. Unless we reduce the price of fuel, food prices will remain high.

POST HARVEST MANAGEMENT

Post-harvest management is a serious problem in poor countries. Kenya’s food loss ranges from 20 to 50 per cent, depending on the produce. This mainly occurs between the farm and the retail point. Pests, rot, poor treatment, and mechanical damage play havoc on food.

Policy interventions should facilitate the adoption of low-cost storage technologies. There is a need to link farmers with researchers in the universities and state parastatals like Kari for training. There are many appropriate storage technologies that can benefit farmers.

Small-scale farmers also need training on value addition, especially techniques enabling longer shelf-life for highly perishable foods like vegetables and fruits.
A more difficult food security threat is the new trends in global food industries. The rising corporate hegemony on food systems is raising concern.

Companies use patented technology and must recoup the heavy investment on research and development. This pushes food prices up.

The food riots of 2008 around the world were not triggered by lack of food per se, but the inflationary price increases caused by rapid integration of food systems by multinationals and lack of focused policies on food access.

In fact, FAO estimates that in 10 years, 70 per cent of available seeds will be patented. There are fears that up to 90 per cent of the world hungry will simply not afford food because of the high prices set by global agribusinesses.

We are talking of a situation where farmers do not own the seeds, and can’t make decisions in the food chain. And they have to buy only particular seeds from specific companies. Worse, the seeds can only be planted once because they come with a terminator gene!

Dr Mbataru teaches agribusiness at Kenyatta University’s School of Agriculture ([email protected])