Tragedy of a food challenge in a time of calamity

One reason why the government has hesitated to put the country under complete Covid-19 lockdown is that it cannot feed the most vulnerable wananchi because there is little or nothing in the strategic food stores!

Media reports last week quoted the chairman of the country’ Strategic Food Reserve (SFR), Dr Noah Wekesa, saying that the country had no maize stocks that could be appropriated by government to feed the 14 million or so Kenyans that struggle to procure a meal a day.

This was confirmed by Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya. While hardly surprising, the revelation is distressing.

It underscores yet again the shambles that continues to reign in the country’s management of its critical food reserves.

It beggars belief that the country will be looking to import maize to feed its hungry people (and animals) from countries that themselves will be grappling with the devastation that the pandemic has wrought.

How do we get into this mess? It is the perennial gangsterism at the National Cereals and Produce Board that is supposed to buy produce from farmers to hold in reserve for emergencies.

Unhappy farmers would rather sell to millers than give their harvests to an institution that buys very cheaply, and does not pay in time.

MAIZE SHORTAGE

This unhelpful reality is exacerbated by the scandalous handling of those reserves that in the past have corruptly found their way into the market.

The managers have deliberately caused shortages to allow cartels to import maize and completely distort the market.

CS Munya’s predecessor was thrown out partly because of the chaos in the sector that saw a packet of maize flour hit Sh190 hardly two years ago, close to double its normal price!

Nothing has been learnt, because we are now being told that four million bags of maize will be imported in the coming weeks to bridge the deficit.

Of these, two million will be for human consumption while the other two will be used as animal feed. Kenyans consume more than 2.5 million bags of their favourite staple in a month.

The country, therefore, confronts a bigger emergency in the wake of Covid-19 and it will do well to heed the call of the Alliance for the Green Revolution in Africa (Agra) that last week warned African countries to brace for a serious food security challenge in the wake of the pandemic.

MONUMENTAL LEGACY

For countries already challenged by inclement weather patterns, generally poor harvests and inefficient post-harvest storing and handling, the understandable restrictions imposed by health authorities in response to the pandemic can only be deleterious to future harvests.

That is why the organisation is calling on governments to include farmers among the category of essential service providers to allow them move around and attend to their farming chores.

Kenya is not in complete lockdown but with Nairobi sealed off, inputs necessary for planting that are sourced from the capital – needed now in most of the Rift Valley, Western and Nyanza regions – may be unavailable.

Those guarding roadblocks may not regard fertilisers, chemicals and seed as critical items to be allowed unfettered movement.

Between now and harvest time in October and November is a long time.

In the longer term, however, the irony must weigh heavily on President Uhuru Kenyatta that within the first month of the pandemic hitting Kenya, he cannot guarantee that he can feed his people even for a month using the country’s strategic reserves! That is how monumental a legacy challenge he confronts.

The writer is a former Group Editor-in-Chief of the Nation Media Group and is now consulting. [email protected]; @tmshindi