I have been watching the news and today I am looking at a pic of cattle carcasses that were bought by KMC in the Govt cattle offtake scheme.

Does it make sense to the economy when a govt buys cattle that is dying then transport it to Nairobi to obviously bury it.

Another thing that does not make sense is when a free market depends on the Govt purchasing power to dictate its future i.e why should a Maize farmer solely depend on the govt to bail him out once he harvest his crop.Cant these farmers look for other ways of making money from their harvest.

In my opinion, The Govt takes most of the responsibility when it comes to failures while other stakeholders go scot free.

I believe that they do get do get other ways. That is why we have the current maize shortage. It is said that most of the maize harvested last season ended up in Southern Sudan.
The main concern is, why should the government import maize at far much higher prices than what the farmers are asking for? This way we will have some grain reserves, other than waiting for maize to be sold outside the country and then start the blame game.

How much is imported maize per 90kg bag? You might even find that imported maize might be cheaper than Kenyan-grown maize as is the case with imported sugar.

IMHO,I think the govt does not import maize, it waives the importation tax once locally produce maize become too costly such that the millers end up raising the prices of their produce.

I think the problem with this country is lack of a proper distribution network such that farmers have no power or know how of how to exploit the available channels of distribution to get full value for their products.

Building strategic storage facilities for consumer goods that are produced in plenty I think is a waste of resources

cooperative movement is the only vehicle that can help farmers in North Eastern and Riftvalley get value for their produce. This cooperatives can have a higher bargaining power than individual farmers.

Selah what would happen if the central bank did not know how much money was in circulation in the economy, or did not maintain a strategic reserve of the currencies that an import economy of ours relies on such as USD and Euro? A strategic reserve bank does not absorb all the excess food, what it does is to create buffer stocks. This inevitably stabilises prices for both buyer and seller.

Improvement of distribution is a quick win and can be implemented at low cost, but creation of the food banks is the long term solution. A sort of equilibrium must be maintained.

On to other matters, most Kenyans who are arguing that the Turkana are lazy and could have done better on their own are ill informed and I have the benefit of experience having grown up in one of the most neglected areas of the country.

We take into granted simple things like the oxygen we breathe every day. Those who were born around the Railway line tend to think that they did anything special to achieve what they have today. The truth is that a biological accident placed them where they are and if they were born say in Turkana or Mandera, they would not be what they are today.

@bwenyenye, I completely agree with your statement, "The regions problem is not lcak of food, but lack of a means to acquire it". How do you explain well fed policemen and administration personnel living in those areas when the local folk are skinny and expiring?

IMHO, the Gov just needs to put good access roads to these areas, then private sector will ensure that the rotting potatoes and cabbages in Molo will find its way there.

I think Government food policies encourage cartel like behaviour notably among the maize growers. The politicians from the region will always oppose maize imports saying there is enough like in the current crisis. Result is cost of maize goes up, inflation goes up, people starve and everybody loses. These politicians oppose maize imports, but do not say a word when the grain is exported to southern Sudan. For nomadic pastoralists; drought will always recur. Bearing in mind the size of the Northern areas, telling them to turn to irrigation is not practical in those lands. The cure is: encourage the private sector to invest there by providing infrastrucure such as roads (motorable standards) electricity etc in the major centres. That way, industries that revolve around livestock will be established and the Turkana, Gabra, Somali et al will not need to be fed by GK.

Common misconceptions by the Southern Kenyans about the Northern Kenya:

1. Northern Kenyans have an unhealthy attachement to livestock. Fact: In the dry arid North, it is the only practical economic activity.
2. Make Northerners cultivating farmers and all problems solved. Fact: Not practical due to aridity. It is practical to move the animals from pasture to pasture.
3. Irrigate the North and all problems solved: Fact: The area is vast and arid. Only small pockets can be irrigated. Irrigation takes large amounts of water and is a scarce resource and will cause conflict between the herders and cultivators.

The North Eastern question is one where all 3 regimes have fared miserably on. Buying live or dead cows is latest of these nonsensical ideas. What can be done differently?
Israel has done so there is question that irrigated farming can work, so perhaps we can encourage some Israelis to settle there. There is a cultural misconception as to what crop instead of farming entails which needs to be overcome, but NE cannot let itself descend into generations of people waiting for handouts. GoK should work extra hard to bring NE into mainstream economy by providing it with infrastructure (roads, security, internet et al). Since we are so keen to involve the Chinese in everything perhaps we can ask them to set up Africa’s largest solar farming project in NE such that we have enough power that we can sell to the neighbours.

The NE question has perplexed me for some time. U read in the DN that 3.5 million cattle with estimated street value of Ksh 52 billion have perished. IMHO, such large scale availability of beef should have at least affected the beef prices downwards.... but what happens?..they all died... the consumer of beef didn't benefit from low prices and neither did the livestock farmer. What is the problem here? The farmers have no access to the market. I tend to believe that since famine is not an earthquake more should have been done to make the farmer aware that if he does not sell early enough he risked loosing everything.

One farmer quoted had 300 cows and lost 250 of them. Even if he sold them at throw away price of 5K each, he would still be having something 1.5m and am sure with such a sum, famine would be news to him.

On maize farmers of the Rift, if GoK subsidizes inputs (e.g seeds and fertilizer) then their produce should be competitive in the market like it happens in Europe. The story of GoK now purchasing the maize from farmers does not make sense.

Strategic reserves are still relevant but farmers should not look at as the only market. There is a blogger who talked about cooperative societies ...which I support. Some farming activities in Kenya goes on without much government input and everything is nearly perfect (like milk), why should maize be different? And who said GoK must buy from local farmers to stockpile the strategic grain reserves?