Kenyans Sleeping Hungry While Food is Rotting: Greenpeace Africa
Kenya has been ranked at position 86 out of 117 countries in a Global Hunger Index Report . This puts Kenya among 50 hungriest countries in the world. Responding to these developments, Greenpeace Africa’s Food Campaigner Claire Nasike has said: “It is appalling to hear that Kenya suffers from serious hunger when tonnes of food goes to waste due to poor post-harvest handling techniques. Farmers lack proper storage facilities and infrastructure among other challenges. “It is disturbing that Kenya’s hunger situation has declined from a global hunger index score of 23.3 in 2018 to 25.2 in 2019. The new Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture needs to prioritise food production as articulated in the President’s Big 4 agenda. A nation without adequate and nutritious food cannot engage in any nation-building efforts. “To boost domestic food production, the Ministry needs to ensure that farmers have access to proper and timely information on the weather patterns, efficient storage facilities, access to markets, adequate water during dry periods and access to indigenous seeds that are well adapted to the local climate. “The Ministry also needs to encourage the consumption of indigenous food that is nutritious and healthy to curb the problem of undernourishment. This will encourage more farmers to grow these foods thus increasing their availability locally.”