1. Food Security & Regional Trade:
Linkages & Implications for Kenya’s
GLORIA OTIENO

2. Structure of Presentation
 Background
 Methodology
 Regional Trade and Implications on Food Security In
Kenya
 Poverty and Food Security in Kenya
 Implications of regional trade and livelihoods and food security
 Policy, Institutional Frameworks and Interplay of
Stakeholders
 Conclusions and Recommendations

3. Background
 Food Security situation in Kenya has worsened in
recent years due to -recent droughts, rising food
prices & rising levels of poverty
 Kenya thus relies on food imports and Trade is
important for stabilizing the national food
supplies and food prices.
 Food imports largely consist of Maize which is a
staple food
 Regional trade agreements –COMESA &EAC
important for imports & Export incomes

4. Methodology
 Secondary data used for trend analysis
 Primary data –
 FGDs with farmer organizations.
› Key Informants – Ministries and Govt
Institutions, NGOs
› Observations at 4border points along Kenya
Tanzania and Kenya Uganda borders
 Review of Policies, Legal and Regulatory
Frameworks

5. Poverty and Food Security: The Kenyan
Situation
 Poverty –overall 46.1 percent; Rural poverty stands at 49.1%.
 Only 16 percent of Kenya is Arable land
 Rural poverty mostly associated with agriculture and land
› Highest in ASALs in Eastern and North-eastern – Desert
› High potential areas e.g Central are over exploited due to
population pressure
 Poverty is highly correlated with food security i.e high poverty
areas are the most food insecure – ASALs
 70 percent Kenyans -net buyers of food
 Staple food is Maize – key element of food security
 dependence on rain fed agriculture -output from maize fell
from a surplus of 9 million bags in 2006 to a deficit of 35
million bags in 2009
 Food security worsened since 1990s and by 2003, food imports
were 14 percent of total value of imports and 25 percent of
agricultural imports today these values have almost doubled

6. Food Security Situation contd’
 only 47 percent of the entire Kenyan population is food
secure.
 Hence Kenya’s dependency on food Aid has continued
to rise over the years Trends in food aid
 In 2010/11 WFP is feeding of 4.2 million people in 25
districts and over a million children through the school
feeding program
 Food imports especially cereals have also increased –
deficits in 2009 was 95,000MT met through imports
 In 2010 – bumper harvest led to a 40 tonne Surplus
 Currently (2011) drought has caused a deficit in
production and about 27 districts in need of food aid

7. Regional Trade and Food Security in
Kenya
 Mainly consisting of Trade between Kenya –EAC and
Kenya COMESA
 Trends Trends –Kenya COMESA Trade
 Exports mainly –tea, (manufactured goods –cement,
cigarettes), Sugar Kenya-EAC Exports
 Imports Kenya EAC- Imports
 Regional food imports come from the region Uganda
and Tanzania 108,155 MT and 56,900 respectively
in 2009, Malawi -110,000MT in 2008
 Main food imports from the region include – Maize,
beans, Millet and onions and potatoes

8. Informal Trade and Food Security
 From border points observations-
 Goods entering Kenya included, maize, beans, bananas, fresh fruits
and vegetables-tomatoes, onions avocados, pineapples and Textiles
 Goods leaving Kenya included counterfeit
batteries, cigarettes, detergents, beverages, sugar, mattresses and other
household goods
 Reasons for illicit trade:
› delays at the border which in some cases along Busia-Malaba border
was up to 7 hours
› High Administrative costs -numerous requirements such as trade
licenses – business and road license, phyto-sanitary certificates
› Corruption and bribery at police checkpoints
 Magnitude is hard to measure
 Positive aspects#
› Improve access to food#
› drives down prices of foods# - a plus for consumers but not producers
› Provides incomes and improves livelihoods for traders#

9. Implications of Regional Trade on
Food Security contd’
1. Increased imports – cheap food imports acting as a
dis-incentive for producers ( especially innneficient
producers)
2. On one hand –loss of incomes for producers and
farm labourers but on the other hand creation of
employment and incomes for traders
3. Improved availability of food especially in areas near
border points

10. Policy Issues
 Conspicuously absent redistributive policies – from
surplus to deficit regions within the country
 Food security policy has laid much emphasis on Maize
sector as a staple ignoring other food crops which
would raise food security –cassava, plantains etc
 Food Security policy not coherent with trade policy
 While trade policy is more export oriented- emphasis has been
placed on high value non traditional food crops –Horticulture
hence a shift away from staple food production
 Institutions mainly bent towards emergency response
–donors and NGOs distributing food aid

11. Agricultural Policies and recent
Developments in the Sector
 Strategy for Revitalization of Agriculture 2003-
 wide spread stakeholder consultations
 sector based approach- implementation by different ministries
 National food security policy
 Parliamentary committees – SUPA, COTEPA
 Advocacy groups –Civil society – SUCAM
 Programs to help farmers –
 fertilizer subsidy program
 National Accelerated Agricultural Input Access Project
Kilimo plus- voucher system for seeds and fertilizer
Kilimo biashara – Low costcost credit to purchase inputs (Ksh 605
million for 121,000 farmers
 Njaa Marufuku - Ksh 327.6 million to assist 1,866 groups, 40 schools
and 35organizations to undertake food security projects.

12. Agricultural Policies and recent
Developments in the Sector contd’
 Agricultural Sector Development Strategy – 2010-
2020
Part of Comprehensive African Agricultural
Development Programme (CAADP) launched in Kenya
in 2005.
 Agriculture positioned as the key driver for delivering
10 percent annual economic growth rate envisaged in
the vision 2030
 Recognises food security as an integral part of
agriculture
 Emphasis also placed on other enabling factors such as
infrastructure, NTBs etc
 Implementation through ASCU- Agricultural Sector
coordination unit

13. Conclusions
 Factors that affect food security include both global
and national level
 Global level- trade practices – subsidies, NTBs, rising oil
prices, climate change and food aid
 National Level- Liberalization and SAPs, poor policy and
planning, poor infrastructure, imports that inherently affect
production as well as incomes and employment, and poverty
 Policy failures – Redistributive mechanisms, strategic grain
reserves, poor infrastructure and institutions that lay emphasis
on drought and emergency food distribution rather than
production and grain marketing
 Private sector participation in grain marketing is low and
government management of grain distribution from surplus to
deficit areas is dismal

14. Policy Recommendations
1. Need for an equitable global environment for trade;
removal of subsidies and climate change mitigation.
2. Taking care of regional NTBs to enhance regional
trade
3. Most of what needs to be done is mainly at National
level
1. Need for a clear and comprehensive trade policy that takes into
account food security issues
2. Addressing infrastructural bottlenecks and redistributive
mechanisms from surplus to deficit areas.
3. Need for a comprehensive institutional framework to enable
private sector participation in the process as well as
consolidation of information for future referencing.

15. Policy recommendations continued
 Improving productivity through
 Irrigation programmes especially in ASALs
 Fertilizer and seeds subsidies to farmers
 Post-harvest and storage facilities to farmers
 Buy farmer’s produce at good prices during bumper harvests
 Better planning and management of the NCPB for
the marketing and storage of strategic grain reserves
 Establishment of regional information and regional
food security forum to ensure better redistribution
from surlus to deficit regions within EAC and
COMESA eg through EAGC
 Involvement of donors – not only for emergency
needs but also irrigation projects etc

16. Trends in food aid

17. Trends –Kenya COMESA Trade
 Kenya-COMESA Trade (1997-2009)
1800000
1600000
1400000
1200000
Value (US$ '000)
1000000
Imports
800000 Exports
600000
400000
200000
0
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

18. Kenya-EAC Exports
Trends in Exports - Kenya to EAC (1996-2009)
700,000
600,000
500,000
Value US$ Millions
400,000 Uganda
Tanzania
300,000 Rwanda
Burundi
200,000
100,000
-
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

19. Kenya EAC- Imports
Trends in Imports from EAC-Kenya (1996-2009)
120,000
100,000
80,000
Value US$ Millions
Uganda
60,000 Tanzania
Rwanda
Burundi
40,000
20,000
-
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009