The recent hikes in food prices in Kenya has taken a great toll on the meager incomes of the poor Kenyans yet, so far, no lasting solution has been found by the myriad of think-tanks occupying the top echelons of power in the country starting with the president an alma mater of LSE (London School of Economics). The poor performance of the Kenyan shilling against the world major currencies like the greenback and the Euro, hasn't helped the situation either.
Someone would tempted and correctly so to ask the question, where did we go wrong; when did the rains begin to beat us as a nations. I vividly remember when i was a kid, mum would take us to shags(reserve/upcountry) to visit my grandparents and when it was finally time to return back, we often came back loaded with quite a number of bags carrying different kinds of foodstuffs and of course the good-old chicken to cap it all up. Those are the days when there was surplus production from the farms with the stocks running past the following planting season. Those were also the days when on average, a family had a minimum of 5(five) hectares of land upon which both farming activities and the homestead co-existed harmoniously.
The planting season was also well known by all and sundry. I remember, grandma would start preparing the shamba (farm) around the month of March every year in readiness for the oncoming rains. The rains on their part did not disappoint as they arrived just as they were expected without delay in volume and intensity.
This scenario is no longer there. With the changes in climate regimes where areas that were previously cooler are now ovens of sorts, rainfall patterns are erratic and unreliable thus affecting the mental prediction of the farmers and their farming habits as well. This, coupled with the ever increasing population in virtually all areas of the country, has greatly affected the output from the agricultural sector at large. This huge increase in family numbers has meant that the small parcels of lands have been subdivided to the children with each getting a small portion to establish himself. This means that the land that previously produced food for the family and neighbors i.e. the surplus which was sold out, is no longer there. People who hitherto were net producers of goods have now become net consumers thus affecting the supply chain tremendously which obviously will have a negative impact on the balance between supply and demand. Most of these people have therefore been forced to change their lifestyles in order to cope and as a survival strategy by moving from rural to urban areas in search of a living.
This increase in demand has therefore meant that the price of basic commodities like flour and fuel has to go up to cope up with the pressure. This has a knock-on effect as the economists like to put it, since other sectors of the economy which are part of the production or supply chain are bound to be affected as well.
The government on its part is under constant and immense pressure to stem the tide of the increase in prices of basic commodities that affect the hoi polloi. Some can be achieved in the short run like declaring tax waivers to food importers, while others are beyond its control considering that Kenya is a net importer of goods and therefore its bound to be affected by any changes in the price of goods sold in the international market like oil.
As a country, we need to rethink our approach and strategy to the problems that affect us. Countries like China have been successful at tackling their challenges like the huge population through the one child policy, while economically, China is producing lots of goods and services at a cheaper cost which are able to compete effectively against the world majors producers of the same goods and services.
Kenya being mostly an agricultural economy with the knowledge economy slowly taking over, ought to go back to the drawing board and redesign its road map. The government should enact into law policies that will ensure that our agricultural lands are sustainably utilized by putting a cap on the minimum size of land that can have a title deed. Farmers should also be empowered through training in modern technology like green house technology and incentives like cheaper fertilizers and other farm inputs and a guaranteed market for their commodities. Infrastructure like roads and power will go a long way in opening up the area thus boosting the production and supply levels. This means that instead of exporting raw materials to other countries which eventually return back to us as finished products which are expensive, we as a country should begin to produce our own products that can compete effectively against other goods in the international market.
In conclusion, we also need to diversify our goods and services apart from the traditional cash crop products which can be affected by the ever changing weather patterns. We also need visionary leaders with ideas that can take our country forward, not mere politicians who hoard maize and petrol in order to gain from the price hikes thus subjecting the majority poor to more suffering.
These are our problems and they need our solutions.
Someone would tempted and correctly so to ask the question, where did we go wrong; when did the rains begin to beat us as a nations. I vividly remember when i was a kid, mum would take us to shags(reserve/upcountry) to visit my grandparents and when it was finally time to return back, we often came back loaded with quite a number of bags carrying different kinds of foodstuffs and of course the good-old chicken to cap it all up. Those are the days when there was surplus production from the farms with the stocks running past the following planting season. Those were also the days when on average, a family had a minimum of 5(five) hectares of land upon which both farming activities and the homestead co-existed harmoniously.
The planting season was also well known by all and sundry. I remember, grandma would start preparing the shamba (farm) around the month of March every year in readiness for the oncoming rains. The rains on their part did not disappoint as they arrived just as they were expected without delay in volume and intensity.
This scenario is no longer there. With the changes in climate regimes where areas that were previously cooler are now ovens of sorts, rainfall patterns are erratic and unreliable thus affecting the mental prediction of the farmers and their farming habits as well. This, coupled with the ever increasing population in virtually all areas of the country, has greatly affected the output from the agricultural sector at large. This huge increase in family numbers has meant that the small parcels of lands have been subdivided to the children with each getting a small portion to establish himself. This means that the land that previously produced food for the family and neighbors i.e. the surplus which was sold out, is no longer there. People who hitherto were net producers of goods have now become net consumers thus affecting the supply chain tremendously which obviously will have a negative impact on the balance between supply and demand. Most of these people have therefore been forced to change their lifestyles in order to cope and as a survival strategy by moving from rural to urban areas in search of a living.
This increase in demand has therefore meant that the price of basic commodities like flour and fuel has to go up to cope up with the pressure. This has a knock-on effect as the economists like to put it, since other sectors of the economy which are part of the production or supply chain are bound to be affected as well.
The government on its part is under constant and immense pressure to stem the tide of the increase in prices of basic commodities that affect the hoi polloi. Some can be achieved in the short run like declaring tax waivers to food importers, while others are beyond its control considering that Kenya is a net importer of goods and therefore its bound to be affected by any changes in the price of goods sold in the international market like oil.
As a country, we need to rethink our approach and strategy to the problems that affect us. Countries like China have been successful at tackling their challenges like the huge population through the one child policy, while economically, China is producing lots of goods and services at a cheaper cost which are able to compete effectively against the world majors producers of the same goods and services.
Kenya being mostly an agricultural economy with the knowledge economy slowly taking over, ought to go back to the drawing board and redesign its road map. The government should enact into law policies that will ensure that our agricultural lands are sustainably utilized by putting a cap on the minimum size of land that can have a title deed. Farmers should also be empowered through training in modern technology like green house technology and incentives like cheaper fertilizers and other farm inputs and a guaranteed market for their commodities. Infrastructure like roads and power will go a long way in opening up the area thus boosting the production and supply levels. This means that instead of exporting raw materials to other countries which eventually return back to us as finished products which are expensive, we as a country should begin to produce our own products that can compete effectively against other goods in the international market.
In conclusion, we also need to diversify our goods and services apart from the traditional cash crop products which can be affected by the ever changing weather patterns. We also need visionary leaders with ideas that can take our country forward, not mere politicians who hoard maize and petrol in order to gain from the price hikes thus subjecting the majority poor to more suffering.
These are our problems and they need our solutions.
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