Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett addressing the press at Mama Sarah farm during the World Food Day. [Photo: Elvanis Ronoh]
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett has assured Kenyans that the country is food secure and there is no cause for alarm
"I want to state categorically that as a country that we are food secure and with the ongoing harvesting season across the country, there's is enough food," he said at Mama Sarah Boit farm during the world food day, Wednesday.
He reiterated that it's the national government commitment to ensuring food security to all Kenyans.
"In Kenya, 7.5 million people are described as chronically food insecure. Out of these, about 1.5 million require food aid at any time," he said.
"As a ministry, we will help farmers in drying their cereals, especially during this rainy season. We want to minimise losses incurred by farmer due to poor drying of their produce," he added.
He reiterated that no Kenyan has died due to the scarcity of food.
He also called upon investors to help set up dryers that will help small-scale farmers dry their produce.
Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago called for the increase of maize buying prices to at least sh 3,500 per 90kg bag of maize.
"Farmers go through a lot of challenges ranging from pests, climate change and the government should take the challenges seriously and allocate more funds to the agriculture sector," he said.
Mandago also called for the waiving of over Sh1.7 billion that farmers owe the Agricultural Finance Cooperation (AFC).