First Consignment Of Yellow Maize Arrives In Kenya

The first batch of the non-genetically modified yellow maize arrived in the country, two months after the government introduced a waiver on the import duty of the commodity.

The maize will be used in the manufacture of animal feeds in a bid to reduce pressure on the white maize. This comes as a relief to millers and farmers who are battling with the high cost of livestock feed as a result of the shortage in the country.

According to the Secretary general Association of Kenya Feed manufacturers martin Kinoti, the 40,000 metrics will only go to 4 feed milling companies. The maize was sourced from Ukraine and shipped through Serbia and Romania. The second consignment is expected to arrive in the country in two-weeks time.

“It is difficult to get non-GMO maize anywhere in the world or get maize directly from Ukraine due to the war,” he said.

The cost of animal feed has for the last couple of months been going through the roof. For instance, a 70 kg bag of layers mash is currently retailing at 4,500 shillings from 3,800 shillings in April. Chick mash is at the same time going for 4,940 shillings from 4,200 shillings. Similarly, the dairy meal prices have also increased to 2,800 shillings from 2,500 shillings.

In May, agriculture cabinet secretary Peter Munya issued a gazette notice for the waiver On the GMO maize imported into the country. Other materials that were exempted from the import duty include soya bean meal, soya bean, cotton seed cake, sunflower seed cake, white sorghum, fish meal, dried distillers grains with solubles, and Rapeseed cake. However, the import has been delayed due to fears about the safety of the commodity following its 2012 ban.

The situation has worsened local prices pushing farmers to seek other alternative feeds to tame losses. According to Kinoti, the animal feed industry uses about 1.5 million metric tonnes of both white and yellow maize. The industry currently requires around 350,000 metric tonnes to ease the pressure.

“If the Government can allow us to import this volume every year, then the animal feed sub-sector would be stable,” he said.

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