WFP in local purchase of surplus maize

The United Nations World Food programme (WFP) has purchased about 19,000 mt of Kenyan maize, which it hopes to distribute locally as food aid, as well as in Somalia and southern Sudan, the agency said this week.

WFP said it hoped to distribute some of the maize to 1.3 million people in Kenya still suffering from the devastating effects of successive drought years, in addition to 1.6 million children who receive one warm meal a day from the agency's school-feeding programme.

Parts of southeastern and northern Kenya, which received exceptionally poor rainfall during May, are still experiencing the stress of drought - even as flooding subsides in western and eastern parts of the country, according to a recent vulnerability update.

Many pastoralists in Kenya also rely on food aid as a result of successive rainy season failures, which have reduced livestock assets and damaged people's coping strategies.

"We are very pleased to support the local farmers at the same time that we provide assistance to those in need," Tesema Negash, WFP country director for Kenya, said a statement released on Wednesday.

"We have put a lot of effort into persuading the international community to donate cash to allow us to purchase cereals locally, and we are grateful for their response, which made cash purchases of local maize available," he added.

This year's maize harvest in Kenya has been "very good", with a considerable overall surplus being sold at competitive prices in the main markets, according to WFP. This had enabled WFP to purchase a substantial amount of maize for its food aid projects, the statement said.

According to WFP, maize availability varies greatly through out Kenya. In the most productive areas, particularly in the central and the western parts of the country, it is widely available at competitive prices. However, more arid and semi-arid northern and eastern parts of the country, consistently affected by drought, do not benefit from these surplus stocks.

Selma Kalousek, WFP's regional public information officer, told IRIN in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, that this was due largely to limited transportation facilities available to farmers, and the low prices they could expect to obtain from selling their maize in the drought-prone areas.

At the same time, poverty and the attendant lack of purchasing power precluded drought victims from purchasing maize at commercial prices, according to Kalousek.

"There are areas in Kenya with good rainfall and a surplus, but because farmers have trouble transporting and selling their maize, WFP is helping the farmers by buying the maize," she said.

"Because this year Kenya has had a good crop, we are able to buy from the farmers. You can't go wrong. It is killing two birds with one stone."

The latest purchase of 19,000 mt, has brought to over 40,000 mt the total amount of maize WFP has bought locally since January this year, at a total cost of US $4.9 million, the agency stated.