By Bisola Adeyemo
Kenya grain milling industry says the country would continue to rely on the importation of wheat grains as farmers cannot meet local consumption needs.
Paoma Fernandes, CEO of the Cereal Miller Association stated on Wednesday, march 23, while revealing the metric tonnes of wheat imported in 2021.
She said Kenya imported approximately 2.4 million metric tons of wheat in 2021 to supplement domestic production, due to the inability of the local farmers to produce enough grains.
Fernandes said that local farmers were only able to produce 100,000 metric tons of the grains last year.
“We will continue to rely on imports as farmers cannot meet local consumption needs,” Fernandes said on the sidelines of a multi-stakeholder workshop on the fortification of wheat and maize flour in Kenya.
Fernandes also said that the bulk of the east African nation’s imports in 2021 came from Russia and Ukraine.
“Due to the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine, imports from the region will be severely affected this year,” she added.
She observed that Kenya is seeking for alternative sources of wheat in order to make up for the shortfall of imports from the Black Sea region that is expected in 2022.
According to the grain milling industry, demand for wheat consumption has been on the increase due to changing diets caused by urbanization as well as raising household incomes.