Linturi: Bumper harvests will slash food costs in 2024

Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi.

The government has promised a further drop in basic food prices in the next few months as the short rains continue pounding several parts of the country.

Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary (CS), Mithika Linturi, said on Saturday, December 16, that the country will have a bumper harvest next year due to the favourable weather and the government's efforts to subsidize farm inputs.

Linturi was speaking during a thanksgiving service at Amwamba Primary School, Akachiu Ward in Igembe South in Meru, where he hailed the Kenya Kwanza administration for improving the lives of Kenyans.

"We are expecting a bumper harvest in 2024, just like we did this year, and I want to assure Kenyans that the cost of food will come down drastically in 2024," he said.

He added that Unga prices are expected to drop from a low of Ksh130 to below Sh100 in early 2024, as promised by President William Ruto.

Linturi further said that the government will continue distributing subsidized fertilizer throughout the country at a cost of Sh2, 500, which he attributed to the improved harvests in the country and the projected bumper harvests next year.

The CS also announced that the government will continue purchasing maize at Sh4, 000 per 90-kg bag from local farmers to stock the national food reserve.

He, however, advised farmers who are still speculating for higher maize prices to take advantage of the mobile grain dryers that were launched by his ministry to reduce post-harvest losses caused by aflatoxin, among other factors.

The thanksgiving ceremony was planned in honour of Linturi's son, who scored 408 marks in the recently released 2023 KCPE exams.

The event was attended by local MPs, Members of the County Assembly, and church leaders, among other leaders.