The staple diet of most Kenyans – and particularly those who are poor – is maize meal, and last year the country consumed around 3.2 million tonnes of maize, while Kenyan farmers produced only 2.1 million tonnes. It is expected that in the period to June this year Uganda will have a maize surplus of 400,000 tonnes and Rwanda will have a surplus of 200,000 tonnes, but Kenya will have a shortfall of 700,000 tonnes and Tanzania a shortage of 450,000 tonnes.
Population in Kenya has been increasing, and food production has not been keeping pace. Modern agricultural techniques which would significantly improve productivity are being ignored in favour of small-scale traditional farming methods. Droughts are becoming more frequent as a result of climate change, but little or nothing is being done to prepare for them, and such agricultural policies as exist have been poorly implemented.
Bad government is partly to blame for the food shortage. As a result of Kenya’s post election violence in 2008, many farmers were chased off their fields. The Kenyan government’s plan for providing subsidised maize to supplement the shortfall turned into a free-for-all looting exercise by politicians and public service officers, and the prices which the poor had to pay for their food increased even more.