NAIROBI (Commodity Online) : ElNino enhanced rains in December helped Kenya’s maize farmers as country’s coastal and southeastern regions will harvest a bumper maize crop from mid-February.
According to Kenya Food Security Steering Group (KFSSG), the most likely situation between January and March points to significant improvements in food security, especially in the southeastern marginal agricultural livelihood areas.
Trading platform that even a 5 year old can trade. Join now
Analysts said the anticipated bumper harvest will help boost the nation's grain reserves, which had been severely depleted due to low production in the country's grain basket, Rift Valley Province.
The Kenya National Cereal and Produce Board would purchase at least four million 90kg maize bags from farmers in the coastal and southeastern lowlands.
The KFSSG report contains inputs from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, the UN World Food Programme, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Kenya’s Arid Lands Resource Management Project.
Kenya’s current national stocks of maize are estimated at about one million tons. This will be boosted by an additional 100,000 tons to be harvested after the short rains in April.
The East African country estimates that about 540,000 metric tons will be harvested from the short-rains season, subject to rains continuing through January, as projected by the Kenya Meteorological Department.
