Maize is the primary staple food crop in Kenya. It is the most frequently produced and marketed crop,grown by 90 percent of households and sold by more than 30 percent of the households in areas where the crop is grown. Maize dominates all national food security considerations. Maize production has, however, been on the decline, reducing from 2.7 million tonnes in 1995 to 2.1 million tonnes in 2004.Similarly, maize yields have declined by over 30 percent over the same period...

This policy brief is based on a study conducted by KIPPRA in 2005, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI}, and Tegemeo Institute of Egerton University. The study uses value-chain analysis to establish the costs of seed maize at various stages of seed maize production, processing and marketing, in order to determine the major factors contributing to the high prices of seed maize in Kenya and thus propose policy recommendations to reverse the trend.