This archive report was first published on 8 May 2020.
As Kenya grapples with the Covid-19 pandemic, the country's reliance on maize imports is a stark reminder of the need to strengthen local food systems.
According to Mr. Wemanya, a Greenpeace Africa campaigner, the overlap between Covid-19 and maize imports is a precursor to a serious crisis.
Mr. Wemanya notes that the experience so far from the Covid-19 challenge is that there is a need to strengthen local systems, including healthcare, food systems, and social protection mechanisms.
Strengthening the food system does not happen by relying on the importation of staple foods, and the government's decision to import maize during this time is a total failure.
Smallholder farmers have been struggling to overcome the challenges presented by the climate crisis, including extreme weather events, pest infestations, and inadequate government support.
Over the last decade, the government has focused on importing foodstuff at the expense of local farmers, and Kenyans need food sovereignty to beat multiple challenges of climate breakdown and the emergence of pandemics.
Strengthening internal systems will help build the required resilience to win against these challenges, and to win against the climate crisis and disease outbreaks, we need strong healthcare, food, and resource governance systems.
Mr. Wemanya emphasizes that if we fail to learn from the lessons we are picking during this time of Covid-19, we will continue depending on the outside world for our survival, which is dangerous.
Kenya can strengthen the resilience of local food industries by enhancing the local value chain, from raw materials to finished products, and supporting local smallholder farmers through research, training, infrastructural development, tax reliefs, and investment.
By focusing on supporting local systems, our healthcare system, and small-holder farmers, we can effectively help overcome the crises of climate change and other disasters such as the current Covid-19.
