Editorials EDITORIAL: Review State food policyControlling food produce prices will not solve the sector’s problems. FILE PHOTO | NMGThe government appears to be prescribing the wrong cure for Kenya’s chronic food security challenges. Controlling food produce prices, like the Ministry of Agriculture is proposing to do through the Crops (Food Crops) Regulations, 2018, won’t solve the sector’s problems, including low production, poor distribution and dumping. Nothing demonstrates the folly of such a policy better than the perennial confusion around maize production, where the government has often intervened to fix prices for supplies to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) or the Strategic Grain Reserve. It hasn’t helped that even when there is no maize deficit in the country, the government has allowed imports, driving down prices and further hurting local farmers.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 28, 2019 19:02 UTC