WHY MAIZE FARMERS IN UASIN GISHU COUNTY FACE NIGHTMARES.

Uasin Gishu experiences an amount enough of rainfall averaging above 1000 mm which makes her ideal for agricultural production. Maize is the staple food crop in Kenya and so its such an important economic activity. Large scale production of maize has seen her and Trans-Nzoia County be branded as the source of food in the country. However, Kenya is occasionally faced with epidemic hunger and in other cases endemic hunger.

In her history, its only recently that the County was faced with transitory food insecurity due to the severe climatic change experienced almost globally in the first quarter of 2019 due to global warming. The County through the department of agriculture has put emphasis to ensure there is food security. These efforts have sometimes been halted by some actions taken by the national government in relation with other states. The national government has had bilateral and multilateral trade relations with other states which have had undesirable impacts to the local farmers.

During the 2018 Mashujaa Day celebrations, President Uhuru Kenyatta appointed the Governors of the two leading maize-growing counties Jackson Mandago and Patrick Khaemba to be part of a Maize Task Force that was to be chaired by the National Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri. The President insisted that he was to make a follow-up of the progression of the Committee and that he had mandated them to research and come up with findings why maize farmers had challenges over the years and how this would also be solved. Uasin Gishu County Chief raised concern of the very many challenges faced by farmers and how the government was reluctant to solving them.

Due to changing climatic conditions, the maize yields have been deteriorating which has affected not just the farmers who depend on the crop for earnings but the country which has also run short of food. Food shortage outcomes are evident from malnutrition to even death out of starvation in severe cases. In 2018, the change of the rainy season in the country forced the government to import maize from Mexico. This cost the government a revenue close to Ksh 3.4 billion since the imported maize was duty free. In addition, the government bought each bag of maize at a cost of Ksh 4000 and ironically when there was surplus harvest from the local farmers it set to buy each bag at Ksh 2,300.  

This problem seems to grow and might escalate as there was a complaint from the two Governors that they were never consulted on the prices the government set to purchase the maize from the farmers.

The over flooding of cheap maize to the country is a challenge that the national government seems not ready to sit and settle it down. 

In 2019, the Kenyan and Ugandan Presidents held bilateral trade talks In Nairobi where they signed a number of agreements among them increasing the quantity of trade items. However, this pact  to some extent is one way since Kenya seems to offer a more open market than the counterpart. 

Middlemen have taken full advantage of this and millers from the initially signed East African Community liberalized market protocol now import cheap maize flooding the market. They then do hoarding of the produce and wait for prices to shoot and this has in effect has led to inflation and negative economic impact. The County farmers have found it hard to sell their produce due to these impediments.

The farmers have also been facing the problem of mechanized agriculture. The Kenyan government has adopted measures that have not been useful to the farmers in any way. For instance, the government has not set up agricultural mechanization stations yet the country depends much on farm produce from Uasin Gishu County. 

The government has been lagging in helping the farmers in the intensification process. Use of farm inputs has proven to be a hard agricultural practice in the County and countrywide as well. The government taxes agro-chemicals to be used to fights pests and diseases. Even though the government has tried to subsidize the fertilizer prices, they are still very high and not every farmer accesses it.

On the same note, the government has since the structural adjustment programmes retrenched the number of agricultural extension officers and this has indeed influenced the yield production directly. In all of the six sub-counties of Uasin Gishu, farmers have been forced to depend on the support they have been receiving from the County although it has not been adequate to meet all of their agricultural know-how need in terms of innovative skills due to the large ratio number of farmers to the officers.

Farmers who do plantation farming lack enough inputs that are so essential to a successful and maximum output. The machinery required is expensive like use of farming tractors which would otherwise have led to fast planting. When the farmers refocus on use of human labour, it has been inadequate and the time used in due process of is longer which raises the cost of production. Farmers who have not changed their farming ways and embraced more improved ones have had to incur losses in the end.

Late farm operations is an outspoken challenge in the County. In April 2019 during the long rains experienced in the County, famers suffered uncountable financial loses as they were forced to plant severally in hope of rains falling which was all in vain. Effects of being highly depended on rain-fed agriculture were fully witnessed not just in the County but in the country when there was acute supply of food. Rains finally came in late May which meant that there was late planting. Lack of financial support like easy and quick access to agricultural credits or loans and the indebtedness of the farmers was a challenge as well.

Farmers have been faced with a challenge of diversifying their crops. This is attached to open challenges like lack of enough extension officers to educate them. Farmers at times have also been pushed to using the seeds of their previous harvest which are uncertified instead of the high quality seed varieties like the hybrid ones. The government has also not effectively been able to provide the farmers with the technology transfer system which can help them supply their produce with ease. One has to look for their own means to get their produce to the market like hiring a truck. 

What is produced is firstly stored at home and the maize may accumulate high levels of moisture leading to contamination. Land fragmentation due to population explosion has also lead to subsistence mentality kind of farming and so the reduced yields bring a risk of starvation. After the crops are ready for harvesting, the rural roads offer poor access for quick transportation. Farmers lack modern storages and use traditional ones like granaries. Maize might get a high content of contamination since the farmers lack maize dryers.

When farmers finally take their produce to the government storage or depots, the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) has inadequate storage for all maize farmers due to keeping the previous produce longer than usual and middlemen as well as cartels snicking in their produce to the depots. The delivery is normally late and this is normally due to lack of proper farmer records which would otherwise be used in the purchasing process and distribution of the subsidized fertilizer and well as giving the credits and loans. NCPB also delays in paying the farmers which goes a long way to affect their livelihoods as they become indebted.

This year the Ministry of Agriculture announced it would not import subsidized fertilizers and instead it would subsidize the prices of the one used for top dressing. This was an added incubus to farmers’ troubles ranging from the delayed payments, delayed rains and the government announcing its intention of importing maize despite a decline to agree on a fixed price and eventually not buying most of the produce. 

The Strategic Food Reserve Trust Fund has not helped the farmers since its inception in 2015. The Strategic Food Reserve program has also neither had any positive impact to the farmers and especially in Uasin Gishu who had opted to benefit from it through the government purchasing their produce at a reasonable profit price. Poor management this programme has been persistent and it has also been accompanied by inadequate funding from the ministry.

Uasin Gishu has already come up with County agricultural policies that have aimed at helping the maize farmers. The Agricultural department has always ensured that at least each sub-county has agricultural extension officers who have been providing technical know-how and sensitizing the farmers in farming contingencies. Recently, the officers mobilized farmers and educated them about the outbreak of fall army worm which had attacked maize. Pesticides were given and instructions on how to spray were also provided a move that was received with absolute appreciation from the producers to the consumers. The County has also been doing soil testing to know the degree of acidity and hydrogen ions and so the awareness of soil fertility levels has helped them make appropriate planning on the way to have high production yields.

The County has been doing commendable work towards subsidizing of the fertilizer prices even further from what the national government has been trying to do. The County has focused on minimizing if not eliminating maize post-harvest losses by adequate preservation by renovating the existing preservation depots and building new ones to meet the bulk delivery of surplus produce.

The national government will have to have a close look at the farmers who are the largest stakeholders in this sector. They form the integral part of meeting one of the national development plans under the Agenda 4 which is food security.

The government will have to put emphasis on how to increase production of maize instead of importing in order to meet the shortage. A review on importation should be done and strong regulation laws enacted since some middlemen benefit from it and the government losses revenue. That way market deficits will be met and all desires of Uasin Gishu farmers will be well catered for.

About the author.

Kilonzo J. Mutie is an attaché at the County government of Uasin Gishu at the department of devolution, administration and public service management (communications and public relations). He also serves as the Secretary General of Maseno University Political Students' Association (MUPOSSA).

For inquiries, email:

kilonzomutie41@yahoo.com