Kenya relies on 92% of imported wheat, only produces 8% - Report

The Agricultural Food Authority (AFA) has announced that Kenya produces only 8% of its annual wheat demand, relying on 92% in imports.

In its report on Tuesday, AFA noted that despite efforts to boost local production consumption, demand has been significantly spiking, prompting imports from Russia, Ukraine, and the EU.

AFA intimated that Kenya’s annual wheat production was 135,000MT in 2023 against a consumption of 2,200,000MT, which has increased in the last five years.

“This scenario has been attributed to increasing cost of production with disproportionate increase in farm-gate prices, low productivity, land subdivisions and short land leases that cannot support modern technologies such as Conservation Agriculture,” read the report in part.

AFA noted that in the last eight months from July 2024, the total amount of imported wheat was 15 million bags against 321,596 bags from local farmers and marketing agents.

The authority has asserted that the government is committed to addressing these challenges through reforms like subsidized fertilizer programmes, enforcement of minimum guaranteed prices, e-Extension services, soil testing and improved seed varieties.

Kenya has instituted the Wheat Purchase Scheme (WPS) which obligates millers to purchase all the locally grown wheat at set prices, pay a duty of 10% while also granting the millers quotas on a pro rata basis, to import wheat to fill the gap.

This comes after Agriculture and Livestock Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe announced that wheat farmers will have 321,000 bags of their harvests stuck in granaries cleared.

His sentiments followed uproar from farmers over an alleged market control by elites, arguing it has strained the scope to sell their produce.

Wheat farmers in Narok County staged protests saying their produce has been lying in stores with little promise of making monetary profits, claiming there are well-connected farmers within the government manipulating the supply chain.

CS Kagwe warned those intending to hijack the resolutions made to address the crisis, affirming that they will be apprehended.

To bridge the gap, Kagwe said that the State is instilling measures to reduce imports and move local production from 8% to above a 40% demand by millers.