By Racheal Nagawa | Senior Reporter, Business Express
The High Court has directed the Kenyan government to first purchase domestically produced rice nationwide before resuming the remaining half of a planned 500,000-tonne duty-free import programme. The ruling aims to protect local farmers from a sharp price collapse and ensure the sustainability of the domestic rice sector.
Under the court’s order, the government may import the remaining 254,000 tonnes of rice approved under a July 2025 gazette notice—but only after a 30-day nationwide buying exercise that targets farmers, millers, and traders across all major rice-growing regions, including Mwea, Ahero, Bunyala, Bura, Nyatike, Kuja, and Kano. The imports are set to be released in three equal tranches of approximately 85,000 tonnes in March, April, and May 2026.
Farmers’ Challenge to Duty-Free Imports
The decision follows a legal challenge by rice farmers who argued that the government’s import plan, although intended to stabilize retail prices, risked undercutting large volumes of unsold local rice still held in farms and storage facilities across key producing regions.
“While the Court approves the importation of the balance of 254,000MT to fill the supply gap and stabilize both availability and prices, the same must be structured so as to avoid dumping large quantities of duty-free rice, which could cause an abrupt and drastic decrease in rice prices and therefore reduce farmers’ incomes,” Judge Edward Muriithi stated.
A previous court ruling in August 2025 allowed the government to import half the planned volume, on condition that it first “mopped up” locally produced rice. However, the mop-up effort proved limited. By October, government agencies had imported about 255,000 tonnes duty-free, but local purchasing had largely been confined to cooperatives linked to the Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC) and conducted mainly at farm-gate level.
Farmers reported that the government had purchased only about 10,280 bags of rice, leaving roughly 65,000 bags in storage, with a further 1.42 million bags expected from the main harvest between mid-November and December. In Mwea alone, millers claimed to hold close to 100,000 unsold bags.
Court Emphasizes Farmers’ Rights
The government acknowledged that it had not bought rice directly from independent farmers or millers outside cooperative structures. The High Court concluded that this limited mop-up failed to adequately protect local producers and effectively shifted the burden of food security policy onto farmers by exposing them to cheaper imported rice before their stocks were absorbed.
“It is possible to uphold farmers’ interests to ensure an economic return on their agricultural production while also filling the supply-demand gap, thereby implementing the government’s obligations in respect of the constitutional right to adequate food,” the court noted in its ruling.
The court further rejected the State’s argument that unsold rice had alternative market outlets, observing that there was no evidence the government had offered to purchase the rice and been turned down.
Implications for the Rice Sector
The ruling underscores the judiciary’s active role in protecting domestic agriculture against policy actions that could inadvertently harm local producers. It also emphasizes the need for the government to balance import strategies with local market realities, ensuring that rice farmers receive fair returns and that domestic supply is not destabilized before foreign imports enter the market.
About the Author
Racheal Nagawa is the Senior Reporter at Business Express Magazine, covering agribusiness, trade policy, and market regulation. She specializes in reporting on food security, agricultural finance, and the policy frameworks shaping Kenya’s farming sector.
