Farmers suffer as food imports dominate Kenyan dinner tables

Published 2021년 6월 21일

Tridge summary

Kenya's 2020 Economic Survey reveals a worsening import dependency ratio and a decline in agricultural sector growth. The country's reliance on foreign foodstuff increased in 2019, with the agricultural sector's growth declining from 6.1% in 2018 to 3.6%. Maize production and cane deliveries also saw a decrease. The overreliance on imports led to an increase in spending on foreign goods. The government's reduction in taxes on imported commodities, such as rice, has led to uneven competition for local farmers. Despite these challenges, the Mwea Irrigation Scheme saw a 34.5% increase in rice production in 2019, accounting for 75.3% of total rice output.

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Original content

According to the 2020 Economic Survey, the country’s reliance on foreign foodstuff posted a sharp increase and Kenya’s import dependency ratio (IDR) worsened from 15.4 per cent in 2018 to 16.4 per cent in 2019. The IDR for both vegetable and animal products worsened from 18.9 and 2.9 per cent in 2018 to 19.4 and 4.2 per cent in 2019, indicating increased reliance on imports of the commodities. Tim Njagi, a development economist at Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development, Egerton University, argues that Kenya has not been producing enough food. “We don’t produce enough and if we decide to close our borders, then we will starve a part of our population,” he says. Data from the 2020 Economic Survey shows that the agricultural sector’s growth declined from 6.1 per cent in 2018 to 3.6 per cent in 2019. Maize production declined from 44.6 million bags in 2018 to 39.8 million bags in 2019, while cane deliveries to factories dropped from 5.3 million tonnes in 2018 to 4.6 ...

Source: Standard