Poor weather, depressed cash crop earnings dampen agriculture growth

Money Markets

 

Workers at the National Cereals and Produce Board depot in Eldoret depot offload maize. Kenya produced 38.9 million bags of maize in 2013. Photo/FILE 

By John Gachiri, jgachiri@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• Output down 2.9pc in 2013 from 4.2pc a year earlier due to low rainfall.
• Prices also declined, resulting in lower earnings for farmers.
• Overall the sector’s contribution to the general economy marginally increased to 25.3 per cent from 24.6 per cent.

 

Low rainfall saw the agriculture sector growth in 2013 contract to 2.9 per cent from of 4.2 per cent a year earlier.

Poor weather in the grain-growing regions during both long and short-rain periods saw output for most cereals drop— with the exception of rice and wheat.

Kenya produced 38.9 million bags of maize in 2013, down from 39.7 million a year earlier while beans production declined to 6.1 million bags from 6.8 million bags over the same period.

Prices also declined, resulting in lower earnings for farmers.

“During the year, farmers received lower gross prices for maize, coffee, tea, cotton and most fresh horticultural products leading to a slight deterioration of the sector interms of trade,” said the Economic Survey 2014.

The value of marketed products declined to Sh334.6 billion from Sh344.6 billion.

Overall the sector’s contribution to the general economy marginally increased to 25.3 per cent from 24.6 per cent.

Improvements in rice, milk, wheat and potato production made up for low output from the traditional staples such as maize and beans.

Production of Irish potatoes increased to 2.1 million tonnes from 1.5 million tonnes, fresh horticultural production rose to 213,800 tonnes from 205,700 tonnes while processed milk output increased to 523 million tonnes from 495.2 million.

READ: Crisis looms as rural economy is hit by a dip in cash crop prices

The poor rainfall was cited as the reason the economy was performing below par.

“Depressed performance of the rains affected the agriculture sector which is the single largest contributor to our GDP,” said a presentation by Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru.

The economy grew by 4.7 per cent in 2013 from 4.6 per cent in 2012.

In 2012 the sector’s performance was helped by high commodity prices on the international market that made up for low yields. The government is however moving production to irrigation from rain-fed agriculture.\

The National Irrigation Board is spearheading the 1.2 million Galana-Kulalu irrigation project at the Coast. The project plans to allocate 500,000 acres  for maize farming, 200,000 acres for sugarcane production, 50,000 acres for fruit and 50,000 for horticultural crops