Curb shift to cash crops threatening staple food

The country’s ability to feed its people could be drastically undermined if recent developments in the North Rift “grain basket” and other regions are not checked. This region produces the bulk of the staple food crops, including maize and wheat.

The twin challenges of the rising cash crop farming and the increasing construction of housing units on fertile land near the urban centres in some counties pose a grim threat. Farmers are increasingly switching from staple food crops to others like tea, coffee, pyrethrum and avocados that offer higher profit margins, despite reducing the total volume of locally grown food.

This is an increasingly pressing concern over the critical issue of food security and agricultural sustainability, as the changing land-use patterns threaten the nation's main food source.

The shift to cash crops is, of course, driven by the desire for better markets, as farmers hope to get more returns on their sweat. But in the long term this is going to sharply decrease the availability of staple crops, driving up prices and increasing dependency on expensive imports.

The high value of housing has, in recent years, been increasing the real estate encroachment on the rich farming land, especially in Kiambu, Machakos and Kajiado counties, which mainly accommodate the high numbers of people working in Nairobi.

Fertile agricultural land on the outskirts of the city and other fast-growing urban centres is rapidly being converted into residential housing units and commercial real estate to accommodate the growing population. This destroys highly fertile topsoil, removing the land from agricultural production.

A new report in the Senate indicates that the top food-producing counties in the North Rift and western Kenya regions are drifting towards monoculture farming, growing coffee and pyrethrum. This is at the expense of maize and beans, which millions of Kenyans consume. As food shortages mount, the country will be forced to rely on expensive imports. New agricultural policy measures are required to encourage farmers in the breadbasket regions not to abandon the growing of the staple food crops.

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