Mudavadi urges donors to promote local farmers when feeding refugees

Speaking during a High-Level Dialogue on the Shirika Plan for Refugees event in Nairobi, Mudavadi said that support groups should purchase food products from local farmers during feeding missions. 

Mudavadi proposed that the relief support process should be reorganized to increase off-take from Kenyan farmers, noting that integration is crucial for community support.

“It is sometimes tragic when we see that the farmer in Kenya is struggling to sell his maize or her maize but we are steadily importing all grain to feed these refugee camps from elsewhere, so the support goes to another farmer and does not come to the host farmer.” the prime CS said.

Shirika plan is a move the Kenyan government is implementing to transform refugee camps into integrated settlements for both refugees and host communities.

The plan aims to ease pressure on host communities, facilitate the transition from camps to integrated human settlements, enhance socioeconomic inclusion, and facilitate the transition of basic service delivery from humanitarian to government systems.