President William Ruto has called for increased domestic food production to reduce Kenya’s reliance on imports, identifying edible oils, fats, wheat and rice as major contributors to the country’s food import bill.
Speaking on Thursday, October 8, during the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Summit at Jamhuri Park ASK Showgrounds in Nairobi, the President said Kenya needed to produce more of the commodities it currently imports in large quantities.
He described the high cost of food as a national concern, noting that Kenyans continued to spend more than half of their income on food.
“We need to produce more of those commodities that constitute the bulk of our imports bill,” Ruto said.
The President cited the government’s fertiliser subsidy programme and digital farmer registration platform as among the measures introduced to increase agricultural production and lower the cost of farming.
He said the fertiliser subsidy had reduced the price of a 50-kilogramme bag from about Sh7,000 to Sh2,000, while more than 34 million bags had been supplied to farmers through the programme.
Ruto added that digital farmer registration had enabled the government to improve the targeting of agricultural inputs and strengthen production planning.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said farmers could purchase a 50-kilogramme bag of fertiliser for Sh2,000 at National Cereals and Produce Board depots, despite the higher market price.
Kagwe described the subsidy as one of the most significant interventions in the agricultural sector.
Ruto also urged farmers to invest in irrigation and water harvesting infrastructure to increase production, improve crop quality and raise their earnings.
He said reliable water supplies would support consistent agricultural production, improve farmers’ access to credit and help reduce food prices.
The President further called for greater investment in value addition, urging Kenyans to move beyond selling raw agricultural commodities and embrace local processing and branding.
Citing the tea industry, he said Kenya needed to capture more value from its agricultural exports.
“Kenya is a tea-producing country but we sell it as a commodity. We should brand it and add value to it,” he said.
Trade Cabinet Secretary Lee Kinyanjui called on the country to take greater advantage of export opportunities in the Middle East, Europe and other international markets.
“There’s no doubt that we are utilising less than ten per cent of the opportunities that are readily available to us in these places,” Kinyanjui said.
The three-day summit, held from October 7 to 9, brought together stakeholders to discuss the future of Kenya’s agricultural sector under the theme, “Food sovereignty, jobs and shared prosperity”.
Ruto said boosting food production was essential to addressing food insecurity, creating jobs and positioning Kenya as a food producer and exporter rather than a net importer.
He said measures to improve access to fertiliser, strengthen farmer registration and stabilise maize prices formed part of the government’s broader strategy to increase domestic food production.
– By John Murunga
