Agribusiness / Food in Kenya
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BOTSWANA, 2017/07/17
Right presently, 14 million people across southern Africa face going hungry due to the prolonged drought brought on by the strongest El Niño in 50 years.
South Africa will import half of its maize and in Zimbabwe as a lot of as 75 % of crops have been abandoned in the worst-hit areas. With extreme weather, such as failed rains, and drought projected to become additional likely as a result of climate change, some farmers are by presently taking matters into their own hands, and pro-actively diversifying the crops they grow.
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CHINA, 2017/07/09
The unprecedented outbreak of famine early this year in Africa and the Middle East can be traced to conflict as the root cause. Can China step in to help mitigate the calamity through its Belt and Road initiative?
Famine broke out in South Sudan in March 2017. At around the same time, the United Nations announced that Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen were as well on the verge of being hit by long draught, putting around 20 million at risk of starvation. The UN described this as an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and appealed to the international community to donate US$4.4 billion — with little success.
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BOTSWANA, 2017/03/12
People are currently starving to death in four nations, and 20 million lives are at risk in the next six months The U.N. children's agency UNICEF said on Tuesday nearly 1.4 million children were at "imminent risk" of death in famines in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.
Famine was formally declared on Monday in parts of South Sudan, which has been mired in civil war since 2013. People are by presently starving to death in all four nations, and the World Food Programme says additional than 20 million lives are at risk in the next six months.
The United Nations defines famine as at the same time as at least 20 % of households in an area face extreme food shortages, acute malnutrition rates exceed 30 %, and two or additional people per 10,000 are dying per day.
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KENYA, 2017/03/12
The government has set aside Sh154 million to be disbursed to various institutions to bolster the school feeding program in parts of the country experiencing drought.
Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi urged the education officers to monitor the situation and ensure school heads are not stressed as a result of the effects of the drought.
He maintained that teachers should not send children home and indicated that the relief food will be distributed in collaboration with the National Youth Service.
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UNITED STATES, 2016/05/11
Building on the success of its program in West Africa, Stanford Seed, the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies, has announced the launch of the Seed Transformation Program in East Africa.
In May, the initial group of promising business leaders selected by Stanford Seed will gather in Nairobi to begin a 12-month transformational process led by world-renowned faculty from Stanford Graduate School of Business. Aimed at driving sustainable increase in the East African regional economy through private-sector-led development, Seed will train these established entrepreneurs from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and Ethiopia, in a yearlong, interactive, educational journey based out of Seed’s new regional center in Nairobi, Kenya.
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KENYA, 2016/04/02
President Uhuru Kenyatta has waived, "with immediate result," coffee licensing fees and levies in an effort to improve the livelihoods of farmers and to make the sector additional lucrative.
President Kenyatta has as well directed the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Treasury and Attorney General to undertake a review of tea and sugar levies.
He said he expects the waiving of coffee licensing fees and levies to boost the earnings of farmers by four %.
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KENYA, 2016/02/09
Coffee farmers from Mount Kenya want to hold a conference with President Uhuru Kenyatta over the sector's crisis at the same time as he tours the region threatening to uproot the crop if no solution is reached.
The 400 farmers converged at Kerugoya Stadium on Monday to chat the way forward.
They spoke of how cartels have infiltrated the coffee market and exploited them for decades. They said only the President, who will be in the region Wednesday, could intervene and save the situation.
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KENYA, 2015/11/21
Kenya, like a lot of African nations, is a net importer of food despite having vast areas of arable land and over 75% of the people involved in farming. The country often faces shortages of maize, rice and wheat, the top three consumed cereal crops in the country.
Each year Kenyans consume 540,000 tonnes of rice but the country only produces 130,000 tonnes, less than 25% of what is needed. It as well grows a paltry 350,000 tonnes of wheat against an annual request of 900,000 tonnes.
It is for these reasons the Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest), an agency mandated with promoting foreign investment , is seeking investors to partner with local landowners to improve food production. Agribusiness is one of five key sectors the agency will be promoting at a world investment summit planned for Nairobi this November.
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KENYA, 2014/02/23
The government on Wednesday warned of a looming food crisis in parts of the country starting June this year.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Felix Koskei said stocks are running out, and urged the private sector to intervene and help mitigate the crisis.
"Concerning the food crisis that is bound to hit the country in June or July, there are several measures that have been taken but initial and foremost we are studying the situation."
"Most of the statistics are estimates for presently and this is because people have different consumption levels."
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KENYA, 2013/07/06
The Criminal Investigations Department will investigate the scandal behind the National Cereals and Produce Board. The Public Investment Committee directed CID director Ndegwa Muhoro to investigate claims by businessman Brian Yongo that his life is in danger.
Committee chairman Aden Keynan said the lifeof Yongo, the managing director of Neptune Credit Management Ltd is under threat for sharing data behind the scandal.
"Yongo said he facing threats next testifying before the committee," Keynan said. Ndegwa told the committee that Yongo will appear share additional data on the scandal with the CID.
