NAIROBI: Production of important foodstuffs has been on the increase in the country over the past five years, according to a new government report. The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics Statistical Abstract 2015 provisional data, shows processed milk recorded the highest rise in production among the eight main foodstuffs surveyed.
The study captured production from 2008 to 2014, and included wheat flour, rice, bread, ghee,maize meal and fats. Others are cooking oil, processed milk and refined salt. Milk posted a 19.6 per cent rise in 2014, to 419 million litres compared to 350 million litres processed in 2013.
It was followed by ghee and fats, whose production rose 13.1 per cent to 265,622 tonnes from 234,705 tonnes. However there was slight drop in production of cooking oil by 2.29 per cent to 186,143 tonnes from 191,833 tonnes in 2013. Wheat flour recorded a 10.41 per cent increase to 976,628 tonnes from 884,179 tonnes in 2013.
Maize meal production hit 587,231 tonnes in 2014, an increase of 4.3 per cent from 2013 when 562,543 tonnes was produced. Bread registered a rise by 9.3 per cent which saw 98,722 tonnes of bread baked in 2014 from 89,419 tonnes the previous year.
Rice posted an increase of 189 tonnes, to 57,191 tonnes in 2014, from 57,002 tonnes in 2013 while refined salt was consumed more, as production increased by 7.79 per cent to 223, 295 tonnes in 2014, from 207,147 tonnes the previous year. The Statistical Abstract 2015 is a single official source of the country’s economic data covering a series of years.
