Experts call for urgent intervention to avoid looming hunger crisis

Agriculture experts are calling for urgent collaboration between the government and the private sector in order to raise sufficient resources to ward-off looming hunger in Kenya.

According to Oxfam East Africa, 28 million people in the region are likely to face severe food shortage should the much-awaited long-rains fail, a situation which has been worsened by rising food prices globally.

In Kenya, 3.8 million people are at risk of hunger with 1 million people already at risk of starvation.

“We do need to take urgent action now. This year what we are really hoping to do is to avert again a high impact catastrophe in the region. We are really calling for early action and resources to be able to support communities at the centre of this,” said Parvin Ngala, Oxfam East Africa Regional Director.

While speaking on KBC Channel 1 Newscheck, Ngala said the organization through the United Nations Flash Appeal in Kenya targets to raise Kshs. 15.8 billion ($139 million) for humanitarian purposes but has only so far raised 11% of the amount.

Preventing future crises

While food insecurity is expected to remain elevated in the near term, policymakers are now being called upon to establish mechanisms that will ensure food already being produced do not go to waste.

Kenya is still battling to curb-post harvest losses in the agriculture value chain.

For instance, in the dairy sector, it is estimated that 95 million litres worth Kshs. 2.4 billion go to waste annually.

Additionally, a report by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) indicated that each Kenyan wastes an estimated 100kg of food annually with a total value of food waste pegged at Kshs. 72 billion per year.

However, according to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Systems Analyst Winnie Yegon, the country also needs to address missing links such as infrastructure and storage facilities which are being attributed to higher post-harvest losses being recorded in the country.

“Increasing food production will not automatically equate to food and nutrition security. We have inefficiencies within the value chain because for the longest time, within the agriculture sector we have focused on the farm but the question we need to ask ourselves is what do we do with the food once it is ready because I don’t think there is any farmer who produces food to stay in the farm,” said Winnie Yegon, Food Systems Analyst at Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN.

Additionally, Kenya is being challenged to ensure each of the 47 counties has a food storage facility besides building dams to trap huge amounts of rainwater during floods.

“Kenya has been dependent on rain-fed agriculture for too long. We need to do large scale irrigation farming, especially in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions. We need to invest in harvesting floodwater to do irrigation in ASAL counties so that we have mega-dams, especially in areas prone to flooding,” added Ahmed Abdi, Executive Director at Relief, Reconstruction and Development Organization (RRDO).

Kenya is also being urged to increase investment in value addition, especially those targeting smallholder farmers who form a bulk of food producers in the country but lack market access for their produce.

“When it comes to value addition, we should not just look at large scale manufacturing but even for the small farmer. small scale cottage industries need to be available at the farm level,” said Abdi.

FAO is currently working with farmers in Kitui and Makueni counties on establishing small cottage industries for drying fruits and vegetables in a bid to cut losses and improve farmer margins.