This destroyed maize crops across the North Rift and Western Kenya, some of the the country’s grain baskets. Others have dumped maize farming for poultry farming, citing high costs of productions, low yields and poor prices. Shunning of the maize crop by some farmers comes amid an acute maize grains shortage that has driven maize flour prices high, leading to importation of maize from as far as Mexico and South Africa. On the outskirts of Iten town, Fanice Sang, a 30-year-old farmer, describes maize farming as a waste of time and resources due to poor prices. Sang says she ventured into poultry farming a year and three months ago after at least five years of unsuccessful attempts in maize farming.

Source: The Star May 30, 2017 05:02 UTC