Archive for June 13th, 2008
Regional Budgets Expect to Ease Food Crisis
 Photo: Julius Mwelu/IRIN  |
| A woman sells potatoes in a city market, Nairobi |
EAST AFRICA, 13 June 2008 (IRIN) – Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, in their budget proposals for the 2008-2009 financial year, announced measures to cushion their populations against soaring food prices.
“The government has zero-rated VAT [Value Added Tax] on wheat flour, milk, and maize flour,” Amos Kimunya, the Kenyan finance minister, said during the reading of the budget in Nairobi on 12 June. The budget was read concurrently with those of Uganda and Tanzania.
Kimunya said he would also be proposing to remove tax on bread and rice while reducing the import duty on wheat to 10 percent from 35.
The Kenyan government, he said, would also allow for the tax free importation of maize so as to boost the country’s strategic grain reserve to eight million bags. “This would help dampen the pressure on maize prices.”
Post election violence that especially affected the fertile Rift Valley region early in the year led to a reduced maize harvest. Additional funding had also been allocated for the resettlement of internally displaced persons.
Regional fertilizer factory?
Discussions are under way with Uganda and Tanzania on setting up a regional fertilizer factory to offset high costs and ensure long-term sustainable supplies, he said.
The cost of fertilizer has almost tripled in Kenya since the beginning of 2008.
Further provisions will be made to give farmers access to affordable credit. At least 25,000 farmers have benefited from 3 billion shillings (US$48 million) provided under an existing seasonal credit loans scheme, Kimunya said.
Other proposals included the scaling up of agricultural extension facilities for farmers, at a cost of 744 million ($12 million) along with the expansion of the wholesale fresh product infrastructure to promote business and increase agricultural productivity.
“If the prices of basic commodities such as sugar and flour, are high then the farmers also increase the prices of their fresh produce so that they can meet these costs,” Steven Karatu, a trader at the Marikiti market, the main fresh produce market in Nairobi, said.
No price controls
The price for 1kg of maize meal is now between 80 and 90 Kenyan shillings ($1.45) up from 50 ($1.29) in 2007.
 Photo: Julius Mwelu/IRIN  |
| A tomato vendor in Nairobi |
While Karatu welcomed the new measures outlined in the budget, especially the tax cuts, he said he would have liked to have seen price controls introduced.
“Local retailers might not even adjust their prices downwards, or they reduce them by 50 cents, which does not really make a difference,” he said.
“If there was a control, saying that the flour will cost only 50 shillings, then we would be guaranteed that we will buy it at that price. Right now prices vary everywhere,” he said.
Uganda
In Uganda, proposals were made to improve agricultural production by increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the agricultural extension service through the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) programme.
NAADS is aiming to develop a demand driven, farmer-led agricultural service delivery system targeting poor subsistence farmers, with special emphasis on women, youth and people with disabilities.
The allocation to NAADS went up by 62 percent bringing the total allocation to 97 billion Ugandan shillings ($59 million), Uganda’s finance minister, Ezra Suruma, said. The additional funding would help purchase farming inputs.
An additional 50 billion Ugandan shillings ($30 million) was allocated as credit guarantees for banks that provided loans for agriculture.
Suruma also proposed exempting income arising out of new agro-processing investments from income tax starting in July.
To mitigate the effect of soaring transportation cost on food prices, there would also be tax exemption for trucks with a loading capacity of at least 3.5 tonnes.
Commercial farming in Tanzania
In Tanzania, the finance minister, Mustafa Mkulo, said the government was encouraging investment in large-scale commercial farming. “Tanzania has vast arable land and the weather is reliable.” he said.
“Rising food prices should be used as an opportunity for the people to earn more income, rather than a curse,” he said.
 Rising food prices should be used as an opportunity for the people to earn more income, rather than a curse |
In the short-term, Mkulo said, measures aimed at addressing the global food crisis locally were being contemplated, including either the banning of exports or increasing export charges.
Kenya’s budget also allocated 1.5 billion shillings to a fund to increase job opportunities for the youth. At least four billion Kenyan shillings ($64.5 million) had also been set up for the civil contingency fund, drought relief and budget reserve for use in emergency situations.
Other key proposals in the Ugandan budget included the improvement of water storage from the current level of 48 percent to 52 percent of projected national demand, in addition to the allocation of an additional 37.2 billion Ugandan shillings ($23 million) for the Peace Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) for northern Uganda.
The PRDP was launched in 2007 with the aim of eradicating poverty and improving the welfare of the people of northern Uganda.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Food Crisis Prompts Diet Changes in Kenya
 Photo: Julius Mwelu/IRIN |
| Lunch time at a school in Nairobi’s Mathare slums: Many Kenyans are facing food insecurity following sharp food prices, drought and post-election violence in January and February |
NAIROBI, 12 June 2008 (IRIN) – A 50 percent rise in food prices in Kenya since the start of 2008 has led many people to drastically reduce their daily diets, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).
“There has been a sharp increase in food prices, especially of the staple, maize,” WFP information officer, Gabrielle Menezes, told IRIN.
A two-kilogramme packet of maize flour, currently retailing at Ksh80 (US $1.3), cost just Ksh50 earlier this year.
“The situation in the arid districts of Turkana and Mandera [northern Kenya] has especially deteriorated, with pastoralists migrating to neighbouring countries in search of pasture,” said Menezes.
She observed that the food security situation was made worse by two months of widespread violence that followed a presidential election in December and by unfavourable weather conditions. She added that the agency was running an emergency operation, currently targeting 1.2 million people affected by drought and the post-election crisis.
High food prices have caused affected communities to adapt their diets, explained Menezes, such as eating only one meal a day, cutting down on protein, such as meat and beans, and opting for cheaper vegetables such as kale.
Mother-of-four Grace Njeri, 42, who lives in Kibera, a Nairobi slum, told IRIN: “I cannot even afford the packed maize meal. I now buy maize and take it to a trader who can mill it for me. This way I spend almost half of what I would if I bought the packed unga [maize flour].”
“Meat is a luxury I cannot afford; I would rather buy vegetables with the little money that I get as a house-help,” she added. “Even eggs are too costly. I don’t know where I will get the extra cash to ensure my children have a balanced diet. Right now it is only ugali [maize meal] or githeri [a mixture of maize and beans] – they are the only meals I can afford.”
Photo: Julius Mwelu/IRIN |
| A vegetable trader in Nairobi: Food prices having gone up by 50 percent since the beginning of the year |
On May 31, police dispersed hundreds of demonstrators in the capital, Nairobi, who were protesting the high cost of staple foods and calling for subsidies.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA-Kenya), the Kenya Red Cross Society and the Ministry of Agriculture are also discussing the provision of seeds that are quick producing, such as beans.
In a humanitarian update, OCHA said a taskforce on food security had been formed to analyze the impact of food price increases and the food security situation across the country.
“Expected on 19 June, this analysis will provide the basis for the government position on food security,” OCHA reported.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Four Dead in Kenya Black Fever Outbreak
 Photo: Jane Some/IRIN |
| An outbreak of kalazar, or black fever, has been reported in Isiolo and Wajir in northeastern Kenya |
NAIROBI, 11 June 2008 (IRIN) – Four people have died in an outbreak of visceral leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease also known as kalazar or black fever, in Isiolo and Wajir in northeastern Kenya, according to a senior health official.
Shahnaaz Sharif, the senior deputy director of medical services in Kenya’s health ministry, said 66 people had been infected in the outbreak that was first reported in Wajir in April 2008.
Sharif said the most affected age group was children between the age of one and five.
“This is due to lowered immunity and the prevailing malnutrition problem in the northern region,” he said.
The most affected areas in Wajir are the districts of Wajir West with 50 percent of the total cases (in the localities of Arbijahan, Eldas, Giristu, Wara and Malale), Wajir East and Wajir North. In Isiolo, the Merta Alba area was the most affected.
Sharif said the health ministry and other stakeholders were carrying out case management and distributing drugs to the sick in treatment centres in Wajir and Isiolo.
The affected communities are also being provided with health education on disease prevention and control, while therapeutic feeding of malnourished children is also taking place.
Control measures for kalazar include the use of insecticide treated bed nets and skin repellents as well as early diagnosis, complete treatment and effective surveillance.
Sharif said it had not been possible to reach all of those potentially affected by the outbreak as some had travelled in search of water and pasture for their livestock. Isiolo and Wajir are located in Kenya’s pastoral-nomadic region.
| Kalazar is endemic in northern Kenya and outbreaks are common in times of drought |
Once it enters the body, the leishmaniasis parasite, which is carried by sand flies, migrates to internal organs and bone marrow. If an infection progresses to disease and is left untreated, it almost always results in death.
Sand flies thrive in the cracks of mud-covered dwellings, in cow dung, rat burrows, anthills, dry river beds and vegetation. In Wajir, the flies often bite people as they dig for water in the bed of the Ewaso Nyiro River or graze their livestock on nearby bushes.
Kalazar is endemic in northern Kenya and outbreaks are common in times of drought.
The most effective methods of diagnosing kalazar can only be conducted in large hospitals located far from the worst-affected areas.
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