- Kenya considers duty free maize imports as production hits a seven year low.
- Millers want a nine month waiver to secure cheaper white maize supplies.
- Government plans to divert 360,000 tonnes of yellow maize to animal feed.
Kenya’s maize supply is under real strain. Production has fallen to its lowest level in seven years, and now the government is considering a duty-free window for three million metric tonnes of white maize to keep maize flour prices from spiralling.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mutahi Kagwe is reviewing the request, which came from the Cereal Millers Association (CMA). At the same time, he’s pushing forward a related plan to gazette 360,000 metric tonnes of yellow maize purely for animal feed. The idea is to pull feed manufacturers away from white maize so there’s more of it left for people to eat.
Why the shortage is so severe
CMA chief executive Paloma Fernandes didn’t mince words at a recent grain sector meeting convened by Kagwe. Only six major maize producing counties, she said, are expected to harvest more than a million bags this season. That’s a steep drop, and by her account, one the sector hasn’t seen in years.
“This is the steepest decline in production and it is huge for us,” Fernandes told the gathering.
The CMA wants any duty waiver to last nine months. That’s enough time, the association argues, for importers to lock down financing, contracts and shipping, and for millers to shop around for competitively priced, non GMO white maize across regional and international markets. Kagwe seems open to it.
“We cannot afford not to have maize,” he said, signalling the government’s willingness to act early rather than wait for shelves to empty.
Zambia looks promising, Tanzania less so
Kenya’s High Commissioner to Zambia, Lilian Tomitom, told the meeting that Zambia has maize to spare. Kenyan traders already working in Zambia and Malawi, she said, are ready to help move supplies into Kenya. Kagwe now wants direct talks with Zambian officials to bring down the source price, since transport costs are what make Zambian maize expensive once it reaches Kenya.
Tanzania is a trickier bet. The CMA warned that Tanzania has a track record of restricting exports when its own stocks run low, a move that wouldn’t just block direct imports but could also disrupt Zambian maize passing through Tanzanian territory. Fernandes’ advice is to build in flexibility so millers can pivot to other international markets if regional supply chains hit a snag.
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Unlike the white maize waiver, which is still under consideration, the yellow maize gazettement isn’t waiting on further debate. Kagwe confirmed the government intends to proceed with the 360,000 metric tonne allocation for feed manufacturing. Free up feed producers’ demand for white maize, and there’s simply more left over for unga.
Kagwe was firm that faster imports can’t mean looser standards. Everything coming into the country still has to pass sanitary and phytosanitary checks, from moisture content to aflatoxin levels.
“Do not bring maize that is not going to pass the tests. There should be no maize in our stores that has been condemned,” he said.
He also wants the testing itself to speed up. Right now, quality checks can take up to four hours, sometimes days. Kagwe floated a target of around ten minutes. He’s pushing for one-stop border processing too, aiming to cut clearance delays that currently run three to five days. Those delays quietly inflate transport, storage and financing costs, all of which eventually land on the consumer’s plate.
“Government must operate at the same pace as the private sector for efficiency,” he said.
Reserves, unpaid subsidies and a wheat problem too
Behind the immediate import question, the government is also trying to rebuild its strategic grain reserves. The National Cereals and Produce Board says it currently has storage capacity for about two million 90 kilogramme bags. “We want to stock our grain reserve,” Kagwe said.
Millers, meanwhile, are pressing their own case. They say the government still owes them roughly Ksh4 billion from a subsidy programme rolled out about five years ago, and settling that debt, they argue, would help them restock faster.
And maize isn’t the only staple under pressure. Kenya’s wheat sector is facing its own strain, leaving the country exposed on two fronts at once. Kagwe wants domestic wheat production ramped up, alongside a longer term look at regional sourcing for commercial supply. The Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) is expected to hold a retreat soon to dig into ways of boosting local wheat output through mechanisation, irrigation, and better productivity.
By Benedict Aoya
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