Thu 19 Nov 2009

 

KENYA. The pace of maize import supplies slowed significantly in the month of October as the main maize harvesting season kicked off in Kenya. The areas that are expected to have a good crop include Trans Nzoia, Nandi, Lugari, Mt. Elgon, parts of Uasin Gishu and Bungoma. With expected El Nino rains in the months of October to December, postharvest measures are paramount as the heavy rains are bound to affect the harvests especially in Trans Nzoia and Uasin Gishu.

Kenya expects a long rains harvest of about 1.8 million MT and a short rains harvest of 0.3 million MT that will be ready by March 2010. With a national consumption rate of about 3.2 million MT, it is expected that Kenya will need to import more maize to cushion the deficit. Most commodity prices in Nairobi remained high except maize prices that declined by 8 percent to hit a level of US$357/MT in October as a result of the new maize crop. As the harvesting season begins, EAGC's efforts to raise awareness about the use of the Warehouse Receipt System commonly referred to as WRS are beginning to bear fruit with most farmers taking up this facility. This is drastically bound to lower the post harvest losses incurred by farmers in the past and consequently add to their profit margins. Farmers also have the option to use these certified receipts as collateral for loans at partner institutions like Equity bank. Still, they could keep the receipts until when they think the market is offering the best possible price for their produce.

EAGC plans to mount continued training in collaboration with other partners on the use of WRS and other tools including the E-Trade platform and the SMS service (Bei Sokoni) to link farmers to markets.