Weather, diseases threaten food security in EAC

 

Farmers pack wheat into bags in 2011. The harvest this time round is projected to be bad. The East African Community is bracing for a shortage of staple foods in coming months with a predicted decline in agricultural production. Photo/FILE  Nation Media Group

By JOINT REPORT The EastAfrican

In Summary

• Agriculture experts in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have forecast a decline in the yields of some of the region’s staple crops in the ongoing harvesting season, triggering a rise in food prices.
• The decline is attributed to erratic weather and an increase in plant diseases in the region.
• An Oxfam report showed that rises in food price were having a damaging effect on the poorest communities in the region. The report says that three-quarters of all consumption expenditure among the poorest 20 per cent is on food.

The East African Community is bracing for a shortage of staple foods in coming months with a predicted decline in agricultural production.

Agriculture experts in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have forecast a decline in the yields of some of the region’s staple crops in the ongoing harvesting season, triggering a rise in food prices.

The decline is attributed to erratic weather and an increase in plant diseases in the region.

A decline in food production is always dreaded as it is not only capable of fanning inflation but also slowing down overall economic growth, given the fact that agriculture is the major contributor to the region’s gross domestic product.

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Any rise in food prices will squeeze the budgets of most households in the region. Uganda’s inflation rate stood 3.40 per cent in June while Kenya recorded at 4.91 per cent and Tanzania’s stood at 7.60 per cent.

An Oxfam report released last week showed that rises in food price were having a damaging effect on the poorest communities in the region.

The report, which focused on Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia and Burkina Faso, says that three-quarters of all consumption expenditure among the poorest 20 per cent is on food.

Oxfam points out that the last major food price rises provoked mass popular discontent across the world, were even linked to the Arab Spring and increased the numbers of people living in poverty by an estimated 44 million.

In Kenya, the provincial crop production report on the Rift Valley region, the country’s breadbasket, predicts a decline in the production of maize and wheat this year.

The government says the country expects to harvest four million bags of wheat — two million less than last year. Maize yields, on the other hand, are expected to fall from 22 million bags (90 kilogramme bags) to 17 million bags.

Uganda also predicts a decline in the production of maize and other food crops, due to erratic weather, diseases, pests and shortage of arable land.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, the average landholding in Uganda has shrunk to two and half acres per household, making it difficult for any meaningful agricultural activity to take place.

Maize and beans have been mostly affected this year, with only a few farmers who planted early reporting good harvests, while the majority are recording losses.