CS Kagwe: Why Kenya exports rice despite annual deficit of 1m tonnes

Kenya exports its high-quality rice that fetches good prices at the international market before it imports cheap low-quality rice, Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has said.

Speaking in Malindi, Kagwe said that Kenya produces quality rice that fetches more money in the international market than in the domestic market.

He added that some countries loved Kenyan rice, especially the pishori type, and that Kenya had no reason not to sell to them at good prices despite a shortage in local production.

Currently, the government has announced an intent to import at least 490,000 metric tonnes of duty-free rice.  Kenya's annual demand is 1.3 million tonnes, leaving a deficit of 20 per cent 1 million metric tonnes.

Meanwhile, Kagwe has called for an increase in budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Agriculture to support farmers and make Kenya a food-secure country.

According to the 2026 budget policy statement (BPS), the ministry received very little funding to enable it to effectively implement its programmes in the 2026/2027 financial year.

Kagwe said this when he met the Senate committee on agriculture, livestock and fisheries that is chaired by Bungoma Senator David Wakoli, where he stressed that agriculture agencies that dealt with research, pest control and regulations were seriously underfunded.

He said that it was alarming that agriculture, which contributes about 26 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Kenya, was getting only two per cent funding from the national budget.

“Agriculture is supposed to be funded to a tune of about ten per cent of the country’s budget, but we receive only two per cent of that, and this means that agriculture is seriously underfunded and the general space of agriculture is underfunded,” he said.

In the budget estimates, the department has been provided a ceiling of Sh75.491 billion against a total resource requirement of Sh135.864 billion, hence leaving a funding gap of Sh59.864 billion.

He added that "If we want agriculture to expand, if we want to get into value addition, if we want higher productivity per acre, then we must continue to allocate higher funds for agriculture."

Senator Wakoli acknowledged the funding deficit in the agriculture sector and promised that his committee will table the recommendation in the Senate and push for increased allocations, especially to critical agencies such as the Agriculture Food Authority (AFA) and other agriculture research agencies.

“What they’ve prayed for is that their budget be increased, and as a committee we shall table those recommendations in the Senate because agriculture is the backbone of our economy, and it doesn’t imply that the budget has deliberately been set lower than expected, but it is because agencies are improved step by step,” said Wakoli, who was accompanied by committee members Senator Tom Ojienda of Kisumu and his Embu counterpart, Alexander Mundigi.