Kenya’s dependence on imported food has climbed to new levels after the country spent Sh81.6 billion on food and beverages in just three months, as weak rainfall and declining harvests left supply gaps that local production could not fill.
Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows the value of food and beverage imports rose by 40.9 per cent in the period ending March 2026, up from Sh57.9 billion recorded in the same quarter of 2025.
The increase of Sh23.7 billion marks the highest first-quarter spending ever recorded on food imports, reflecting rising pressure on domestic food supply systems.
The latest figures also show food imports growing much faster than the country’s overall import bill, which increased by 14.4 per cent to Sh740.8 billion from Sh647.6 billion a year earlier. The widening gap points to stronger reliance on external markets to meet basic food needs.
Kenya continues to import large quantities of essential commodities including wheat, rice, edible oils and sugar, while yellow maize is also brought in from time to time to cover shortages during dry spells and stabilise supply.
The surge in imports comes at a time when drought conditions have deepened in several regions following multiple seasons of poor rainfall. Government departments responsible for arid and semi-arid areas had earlier raised concern over worsening weather patterns affecting food production.
“In early 2026, drought conditions have intensified in ASALs, following successive below-average rainfall,” the department’s Principal Secretary Kello Harsama, who was transferred last week to the Petroleum Department, said on February 27.
He noted that weak rainfall in late 2024 slowed recovery efforts, while the 2025 short rains performed even worse in both amount and distribution.
The continued rainfall deficit has reduced water availability, slowed pasture regeneration and weakened crop output, worsening food shortages in affected regions, especially in the northern parts of the country.
Food security assessments by the Kenya Food Security Steering Group indicate that 3.5 million people required food assistance by February 2026, up from 2.2 million in February 2025 and one million in July 2024.
The situation worsened after the failure of the October-December 2025 short rains, which further reduced harvests and affected livestock productivity across drought-prone counties.
To respond to the crisis, government spending on drought interventions crossed Sh6 billion, covering emergency food supplies, livestock feed distribution and water provision in 23 counties classified as arid and semi-arid.
An additional Sh778.5 million was channelled through the Hunger Safety Net Programme under the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA), reaching 133,101 vulnerable households in eight severely affected counties through cash transfers.
The Treasury has warned that the continuing drought poses risks to economic performance, mainly through reduced agricultural output and knock-on effects across related sectors.
“A drought affecting crop production in 2026 is projected to reduce output noticeably, reflecting immediate losses in agricultural value added and spillover effects across the broader economy,” the Treasury wrote in the 2026 Budget Policy Statement.
Officials further noted that livestock losses will also contribute to slower growth, although the effect is expected to be smaller due to weaker links between the livestock sector and other parts of the economy.
The latest import figures now stand above levels recorded during the 2022 and 2023 food crisis period, when drought and global supply chain disruptions, including the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war, pushed food import spending sharply higher.
The previous peak was recorded in 2023, when Kenya faced what authorities described as the worst drought in four decades, forcing increased reliance on imported food to sustain national supply