How Russia invasion of Ukraine affects Africa’s food supplies

No man qualifies as a statesman who is entirely ignorant of the problems of wheat. The words of the ancient Greek philosopher, Socrates

Wheat and other grains are back at the heart of geopolitics following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Both countries play a major role in the global agricultural market.

There is significant agricultural trade between countries on the continent and Russia and Ukraine. African countries imported agricultural products worth $4 billion from Russia in 2020. About 90 percent of this was wheat, and six percent was sunflower oil.

Major importing countries were Egypt, which accounted for nearly half of the imports, followed by Sudan, Nigeria, Tanzania, Algeria, Kenya and South Africa.

Similarly, Ukraine exported $2.9 billion worth of agricultural products to the African continent in 2020. About 48 percent of this was wheat, 31 percent maize, and the rest included sunflower oil, barley, and soybeans.

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Migori Abandons Tobacco For Sorghum

Migori county farmers have revived abandoned tobacco farmlands for sorghum farming, which enjoys a ready market from brewers.

Land that has been lying fallow in Nyatike and Suna West subcounties has seen a high uptake of sorghum farming.

“Tobacco farming has been faced with frustrations and unpredictable markets after firms collapsed with the few existing ones taking ages to pay farmers,” former university of Nairobi lecturer Phillip Mwabe said.

Mwabe has opened up 30 acres to sorghum farming after Cereal Growers Association gave them certified fast growing seeds and trained them on how to maximise profit.

“We found a new cash crop and I harvested close to 1,000 tons of the crop after EABL refurbished their plant in Kisumu. Cost of production of sorghum is better and profits are steadier than tobacco,” he said.

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Bura Farmers Opt For Rice Crop

The government has embarked on an aggressive campaign to meet the growing demand for rice through a campaign dubbed “National Rice Development Strategy (NRDS) that began in 2019 and runs upto 2030.

The strategy aimed to identify rice hubs, improve on varieties in order to increase production and bridge the country’s deficit to reduce importation of related products. Kenya’s domestic rice sector has not satisfied the increasing demand for rice and this is aggravated by the population growth of the middle class and urbanization with people who are increasingly relying on rice for food.

Dr. Mary Mutembei from State Department of Crops at the Ministry of Agriculture and Head of rice promotion programme says the country needs to move from Production of only 15 percent of what it consumes and stop spending more on importation. “We spent an average of Ksh25 billion to import rice despite tripling our production from 50,000 metric tons to 150,000 metric tons in the last 10 years and this shows there is still a huge gap to fill,” she said.

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Top Dressing Fertilizer For Maize: Why Timing is Key

The key word is timing; Top dressing fertilizer works best when the timing is best (the right crop groth stage at the recommended rate.) This explains why application of urea is dependant on understanding of growth stages.

Top Dressing Fertilizer For Maize Nitrogen applied at the 3-4 leaf stage with a broadcaster leaves nitrogen vulnerable to leaching when the crop does not require it.

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