January 9, 2013

Kenya sees increased corn harvest in 2012-13

Buoyed by good rainfall and increased investment by farmers, Kenya expects its 2012-13 corn harvest to rise to between 40-million and 41-million 90-kilogramme bags from 36-million in the previous season.

East Africa's biggest economy has experienced a stable supply of food since the start of 2012 aided by favourable weather, easing inflationary pressure on households on low prices of key staples including rice, corn and wheat.

"The situation looks quite fantastic in the short term and we expect a very good harvest for the season. The weather has been good and farmers have also put in a lot of effort in improving production," Agriculture Ministry permanent secretary Romano Kiome said in an interview.

Kiome said the country's strategic grain reserve had 20-million bags of corn which would ensure a stable supply of food in the short term.

"We expect about 40-41 million bags from the ended season and the strategic reserve has about 20 million bags, which is quite impressive," he said.

The projected bumper harvest of the main staple corn is expected to help maintain low inflation levels. The east Africa nation's on-year inflation dropped to 3.2% in December from 3.25% the previous month.

Although Kenya's supply outlook remains favourable, Kiome said that effects of the recent rally in international food prices remained a threat.

The UN's food agency expects global food markets to face further volatility in 2013 as stocks and supply of key cereals have tightened partly due to concern about extreme hot and dry weather that recently hit the US.

Kiome said the government had taken on a programme to improve storage facilities to protect harvest from destruction.