Kagwe: Kenya will import COMESA maize as drought cuts the crop
Key points
- CS Mutahi Kagwe, in Trans Nzoia on Thursday, said Kenya will import maize from the COMESA region to top up a drought-hit harvest.
- He still said seed stocks are adequate even if 25–30% of the seed crop is lost.
- Wheat and rice imports will continue; he said sugar output has doubled and could cut import need.
- Plans will follow Kenya Meteorological Department forecasts for drought and El Niño; related ministry lines have spoken of about one million bags.
“Kenya will import maize.” That was Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe in Trans Nzoia on Thursday, after walking drought-hit fields and seed plots, Eastleigh Voice reported.
He said production will fall but COMESA supplies plus other measures should stop a shortage. Seed stocks, he insisted, remain enough for the next planting even if 25 to 30 per cent of the seed crop is lost. Weather is now the planning assumption: the ministry will keep using Kenya Meteorological Department outlooks for drought, El Niño and other extremes, and will keep contingency plans for crops and livestock. Kenya will also keep importing wheat and rice — wheat because local output covers only a small share of demand, rice because a young, urban population eats more of it. On sugar he claimed a first-time doubling of output that should shrink, maybe end, import need. A related ministry line has already spoken of about one million bags of maize. This visit is the public turn from “we are food-secure” to “we will buy from the neighbourhood.” Millers and county stores will feel the difference before the next long rains.
An import line is not a farmgate price
COMESA maize can flatten unga or flatten Trans Nzoia tickets, depending on timing and duty. Kagwe should publish tonnage, origin and landing month, not only the intention.
Agriculture desk: Agriculture. Verified Thursday Trans Nzoia remarks, 25–30% seed-crop risk and COMESA sourcing from Eastleigh Voice.
The ministry should table the import tender size. NCPB should say how much local maize it will still buy at the gazetted floor.
Farmers should keep delivery records; an import wave without a local offtake plan is a second drought.
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Official gazettes, court rulings and agency circulars may update these facts after publication; readers should verify any deadline, fee or court date against primary sources before acting.
Based on Eastleigh Voice reporting of Kagwe’s Trans Nzoia visit. Tonnage and landing dates were not in that briefing.
