Image: Farmers Review Africa
The Ministry of Agriculture has released the first round of crop estimates for the current growing season estimating a slight increase in maize production by 2.8 percent as compared to the previous season.
Projections indicate a maize output of 3,608,862 metric tons, showcasing an improvement from 3,509,837 metric tons in the 2022/2023 growing season.
The Ministry attributes this increase to an expansion in hectarage by 3 percent due to good maize prices in the previous marketing season.
“When compared to a five-year average production, the projection indicates a decrease of 5.0 percent,” reads the statement in part.
As for the other crops, the Ministry estimates that the production of groundnuts, pigeon peas, beans, cowpeas, sesame, and sunflower will increase by 10.4 percent, 10.9 percent, 5.7 percent, 0.02 percent, 56.1 percent, and 20.2 percent, respectively, due to seed availability and market incentives.
However, the production of soya beans and cotton will drop by 7.2 percent and 23.0 percent due to market disincentives and higher prices for hybrid cotton seeds.
The Ministry is set to carry out the second round of crop estimates next month which will take into account the effects of the El Nino weather condition.
