Kenya to cut edible oil importation by 50pc next year, Linturi says
National government plans to reduce the import bill of edible oils annually by 50 per cent to Sh80 billion from the current Sh160 billion in the next one year. Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mithika Linturi said edible oil is one of the food items that have a huge weight in Kenya’s food import bill.
He said the government last year embarked on an ambitious bid to promote the growth of sunflowers in the country in order to reduce the increasing import bill for edible oils and lower the prices of cooking oil in the country.
Import substitution
Linturi stated that development of edible oil is currently low and at varying stages with households dedicating an estimated 30 per cent of their incomes to edible oils.
“This country can achieve self-sufficiency and import substitution through increased production of oil crops such as sunflower, canola, soya bean and coconut,” he said during an engagement meeting on the promotion of edible oil crops value chains.
Annually, Kenya spends at least Sh160 billion annually to import edible oils from other countries mainly South-East Asian countries. The country’s annual consumption for edible oil is an estimated 900,000 MT against a national production of 80,000 tonnes of domestically produced edible oil crops.
Bridging the deficit of 820,000 tonnes, Linturi explained, is through imports considering that the local production of vegetable oils and fats accounts for less than 9 percent of the local demand.
The CS said that last year, Kenya imported a total of 720,000 tonnes of crude and ready to use vegetable oil valued at Sh98.9 billion, thus ranking the edible oil as one of the country’s most important imports after petroleum.
He explained that the government through the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) formulated the Edible Oil Crops Promotion Project (EOCPP) five-year project that commenced on July 1, 2023.
The plans are to be completed on June 30, 2028 with activities involving collaboration with state departments, agencies and county governments. “The project is a Sh981 million project co-funded by the National Treasury to a tune of Sh400 million and AFA- Nuts and Oil Crops Directorate, the lead agency Sh581 million from its internally generated funds,” Linturi noted.
Source Link : https://www.pd.co.ke/business/kenya-to-cut-edible-oil-importation-by-50pc-next-year-linturi-says-227746/
