President William Ruto now says that his administration is determined to eliminate hunger by growing food locally.
Speaking in Buuri on Thursday, Ruto called on all stakeholders to work together to ensure that hunger is no longer a challenge Kenyans have to face.
He said that the government cannot spend hundreds of billions yearly in buying food from other countries when the same food can grow in the country.
Ruto noted that by importing food, the government encourages hunger in the country.
"We cannot spend Sh500 billion every year to import food when we can grow it locally. That is why we must work together s government, citizens, farmers and private sector to ensure that we grow enough food in Kenya to avoid the challenge of importing food using our foreign exchange and encouraging hunger in our republic," Ruto said.
"We want to eliminate hunger by growing food locally."
Ruto who commissioned the Ngusishi Potato Cold Storage facility in Buuri affirmed that his administration will fully support farmers in various ways to ensure the country produces enough food.
The President has been deliberate in his efforts to support farmers to increase food production in the country.
Some of the interventions introduced to achieve this include subsidising fertiliser for farmers and reducing the cost from Sh6,500 to Sh2,500.
"I am committed to putting the shame of hunger behind us once and for all. We rolled out a country-wide farmer registration and fertiliser subsidy program that has made available 5.5 million bags to farmers across Kenya," Ruto said in November last year.
In October 2023, Ruto said the country was looking at 2024 as the last year that it would receive maize from outside.