Mauritius vs Kenya - Kenya PS wants team set up to save wheat farming

Agriculture permanent secretary Romano Kiome. Photo/FILE 

By KABURU MUGAMBI akaburu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Thursday, September 16 2010 at 15:50

The Ministry of Agriculture has called for inter-ministerial intervention to save wheat sub-sector from collapse due to low production and competition from imported flour.

The milling industry faces a serious threat from duty free grain and flour imports from Comesa member states especially Egypt and Mauritius, Agriculture permanent secretary Romano Kiome said.

He said that despite the trade bloc introducing safeguard measures to control importation of wheat flour and wheat grain, the sub-sector is still not competitive.

The measures ended in December 2008 posing serious challenges, said Dr Kiome.

With the removal of tariffs on wheat and wheat products in the region, he said, traders have increased imports of finished wheat products - flour, biscuits and spaghetti - mainly from Mauritius, Egypt and Asia. This has reduced importation of wheat.

“However, most of the milling capacity is under-utilised because of inadequate supply of locally produced wheat,” he said. “Moreover, stiff competition from imported flour together with high costs of production have placed local millers at a disadvantage, which makes them unable to effectively compete in the regional and international market."

The PS said that although Kenya was a net exporter of wheat in 1970s, it became a net importer over the last two decades because of production, marketing, research and policy limitations.

To save the wheat sub-sector the government plans to revive farmers’ organisations, revamp credit facilities, improve seed multiplication and expand access to low-cost inputs, the PS said.

The PS spoke in Nairobi on Wednesday during the launch of Anchor Yeast, a global yeast and enzyme manufacturer.