Uasin gishu changing from Maize to coffee and avacados

[RV Pundit]

• Tweet

[Arcadian_Dreamer]

Very bad for this country's food security. Maize is still the staple in this country, importing it is not viable even with higher avocado or coffee prices.

This is up there with turning farm land into rental properties in terms of stupidity, higher returns in the short term but lethal in the longer term.

We need a national food strategy. 

[RV Pundit]

National Food security is gov job - not a farmer job. Farmers need to engage in AGRIBUSINESS. Let gov plant maize in their farms. Or in Turkana. This guy say there is so much fresh water in turkana flowing underground from Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia highlands..to make turkana a new grain basket.

Very bad for this country's food security. Maize is still the staple in this country, importing it is not viable even with higher avocado or coffee prices.

This is up there with turning farm land into rental properties in terms of stupidity, higher returns in the short term but lethal in the longer term.

We need a national food strategy. 

[vooke]

Very bad for this country's food security. Maize is still the staple in this country, importing it is not viable even with higher avocado or coffee prices.

This is up there with turning farm land into rental properties in terms of stupidity, higher returns in the short term but lethal in the longer term.

We need a national food strategy. 

Why is importing not viable?

Farmers will plant what they need and focus on cash

[KenyanPlato]

Tears loading. Unless the ovacado market is in kenya it will end in tears.

[GeeMail]

Very bad for this country's food security. Maize is still the staple in this country, importing it is not viable even with higher avocado or coffee prices.

This is up there with turning farm land into rental properties in terms of stupidity, higher returns in the short term but lethal in the longer term.

We need a national food strategy. 

According to General Sulk Kenya growing maize in DRC and Uganda. Maybe even Lake Victoria.

[Arcadian_Dreamer]

Very bad for this country's food security. Maize is still the staple in this country, importing it is not viable even with higher avocado or coffee prices.

This is up there with turning farm land into rental properties in terms of stupidity, higher returns in the short term but lethal in the longer term.

We need a national food strategy. 

Why is importing not viable?

Farmers will plant what they need and focus on cash

Because of National security. Food exporting nations will prioritize domestic markets in crunch times. Then what will you do?

It happened last decade with wheat in Russia. You got Arab spring. You are playing with fire.

Same thing happened with Covid PPE's uchoyo everyone taking care of their own citizens.

Big uproar, walungus started talking about reshoring because China refused to export, America ordered 3M to send orders meant for Germany to the US instead.

[RV Pundit]

That is what critical food and fuel reserves are meant for - gov should always stock - some million bags of maize - and some million litres of petrol and diesel.
We have I think function maize reserve of 4 million.
We havent managed to get fuel think going - and we just need to build huge tanks in middle of Tsavo or somewhere close to a pipeline.
And we can buy as much as we can when oil prices are cheap.
And use it times like now.

Because of National security. Food exporting nations will prioritize domestic markets in crunch times. Then what will you do?

It happened last decade with wheat in Russia. You got Arab spring. You are playing with fire.

Same thing happened with Covid PPE's uchoyo everyone taking care of their own citizens.

Big uproar, walungus started talking about reshoring because China refused to export, America ordered 3M to send orders meant for Germany to the US instead.

[Arcadian_Dreamer]

That is what critical food and fuel reserves are meant for - gov should always stock - some million bags of maize - and some million litres of petrol and diesel.
We have I think function maize reserve of 4 million.
We havent managed to get fuel think going - and we just need to build huge tanks in middle of Tsavo or somewhere close to a pipeline.
And we can buy as much as we can when oil prices are cheap.
And use it times like now.

That is like a drop in the bucket. If we get a black swan event, we are cooked. Even United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve would last only 36 days.

Reserves are a joke. Food security is a paramount especially now with climate change and unsustainable populations.

[RV Pundit]

Poor peasant cannot do gov job. If food security is so important - let gov grow maize in their farms. That scarcity mentality can only be fixed by increasing supply - divesting from ugali - into rice, wheat, name it. The same with fuel.

Right now Ugali is going down consumption wise - and rice is going up - as it easy to prepare in urban areas.

That is like a drop in the bucket. If we get a black swan event, we are cooked. Even United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve would last only 36 days.

Reserves are a joke. Food security is a paramount especially now with climate change and unsustainable populations.

[Arcadian_Dreamer]

Poor peasant cannot do gov job. If food security is so important - let gov grow maize in their farms. That scarcity mentality can only be fixed by increasing supply - divesting from ugali - into rice, wheat, name it. The same with fuel.

Trying to be clever. Government should have a policy of supporting agriculture - even industrialized countries support their farmers. it is just too vital to be left to market vagaries. I'm very libertarian the only thing I would make an exception for public largesse is food security, at least subsidize poor peasants instead of subsidizing Chinese construction firms and banks.

Ugali will always be an African staple, rice and wheat despite being touted as substitutes have not panned out.

[RV Pundit]

There is nothing african about ugali and it reason we struggle with it. Ugali is american food. And we should import from there. Our foods are elusine millet, arrow roots, and such crops that are so natural and so used to Africa.

Maize was brought to Africa by portuguese some 500yrs ago - before even arrival of Luos in Kenya.

For now let import maize from it's natural habitat - the american continent.  In the meantime we need to like west african like our real natural african food like cassava, arrow roots, sweat potatos and other such tubers. And then sorghum, elusine millet and african grains.

The true african foods including coffee, millet, yam, millet, name it - DO NOT NEED pesticides or fertilizers - because they are natural to africa - and have adapted for years.

But are we ready to eat ugali of millet? to swap chips for sweat potatos?

Ugali will always be an African staple, rice and wheat despite being touted as substitutes have not panned out.

[hk]

Economic freedom, every individual makes personal decisions on how to better themselves.  If its more profitable to engaged in coffee and avocado farming, farmers will diversify. Kenya should fully implement comesa protocols. By doing that Maize and sugar industries would immediately collapse. Farmers would shift to more profitable crops. Most kenyans are maize and sugar consumers. We shouldn't be subsidizing few farmers at the expense the greater consumer majority. When coffee societies collapsed in Githunguri its when dairy farming took off. In muranga ,meru, embu and nyeri avocado and macadamia farming exploded.

[vooke]

Economic freedom, every individual makes personal decisions on how to better themselves.  If its more profitable to engaged in coffee and avocado farming, farmers will diversify. Kenya should fully implement comesa protocols. By doing that Maize and sugar industries would immediately collapse. Farmers would shift to more profitable crops. Most kenyans are maize and sugar consumers. We shouldn't be subsidizing few farmers at the expense the greater consumer majority. When coffee societies collapsed in Githunguri its when dairy farming took off. In muranga ,meru, embu and nyeri avocado and macadamia farming exploded.

[Njuri Ncheke]

Funny that so called bread baskets still produce maize in bulk. Mlima areas long diversified into horticulture. Hass avocado farming is the new in thing. My dad has several avocados and increasing,but theft is a mbig issue in South Africa they employ armed guards to protect their hass avocado.
Maize should never have been a staple for Kenya and generally Kenya is only country that can't survive without maize. Government should diversity on local native food crops to avoid this over reliance that causes scandals at ukulima house.

[RV Pundit]

Precisely. We should only prop a sector for say 3-4yrs; if it still not competitive; cut our losses; KQ is an example of something festering for 10yrs now - been making losses since 2012. No one has the guts to kill it.

Economic freedom, every individual makes personal decisions on how to better themselves.  If its more profitable to engaged in coffee and avocado farming, farmers will diversify. Kenya should fully implement comesa protocols. By doing that Maize and sugar industries would immediately collapse. Farmers would shift to more profitable crops. Most kenyans are maize and sugar consumers. We shouldn't be subsidizing few farmers at the expense the greater consumer majority. When coffee societies collapsed in Githunguri its when dairy farming took off. In muranga ,meru, embu and nyeri avocado and macadamia farming exploded.