In Kenya, the average person consumes 88-103kg of maize every year.1 It is the second highest food commodity consumed in Kenya after milk. However, in a country that produces an average of 3 million tonnes of maize annually, the supply deficit is often too big.2 Reports indicate that in the first nine months of 2022, we imported 5.7 million bags of maize (a bag is 90 kilograms) to meet the deficit, an increase from 2.4 million bags in the same period the previous year.3 A significant percentage of the maize consumed (sorry I did not get the exact figure) is in the form of ugali, Kenya’s version of a mash of maize meal, prevalent in many former settler colonies in Africa.
Kenya’s Staple Starch
Ugali (specifically one made from maize four) is consumed everywhere – households, eateries and institutions. It is served with a wide range of items including meat, eggs, vegetables, omena (freshwater sardines), vegetables, milk and legumes among other food items.
Ugali is often perceived as a “filling” food. Its primary function particularly among low-income urban households is satiety not nutrition or taste. For this reason, I have opined that substituting ugali would be difficult because of the beliefs, attitudes and perceptions towards ugali as filling and “proper food” compared to rice/potatoes.
However, a closer look at the food items that ugali is often served with reveals the different ways the starch is consumed across different households – low and high-income households. Understanding the motivations for these patterns is necessary to institute policies that encourage diversification.
The Lower-Income Households: the Starch and Relish Pattern
Across households, a portion of ugali (starch) is served with a smaller portion of vegetables, animal or plant protein source (relish). In poorer households, the portion of ugali is way too big for the relish. The centrepiece of the meal is ugali and the relish’s role is to facilitate the chewing and the swallowing of the starch. The relish is prepared and served with this end goal in mind – to embed some flavour, soften up the starch and make it easier to chew and swallow.
This consumption pattern described above (the exact pairing and these quantities and properties of the relish), is described by scholars as the Starch and Relish framework.4 Another scholar describes it as a core-fringe pattern typical among agrarian societies.5 In our case, the core is ugali. The core is meant to be consumed in bulk. While the vegetable, animal/protein source is the fringe, small in quantity with the goal of accentuating the core.
The scholars view the above consumption patterns as typical for agrarian societies. However, I hypothesize that class plays a role, particularly among former settler colonies in Africa. Why settler colonies?
Because the development of agriculture in settler colonies was in such a way that certain crops were cultivated by European farmers and others by native African farmers. The system created a divide in the cultivation and consumption of certain crops/foods by race which today persists but shows up as class. This becomes clearer when you view the ugali consumption patterns in wealthier households.
Higher-Income Households: Ugali-Soaking-Up-Stew-Liquids Framework
Among wealthier households, ugali is still served, maybe less frequently (compared to almost daily for poorer households). It is served with vegetables, and animal/protein sources as above, but the quantities and composition of the “fringe/relish” are much different.
The ugali portion is much smaller on the plate, almost similar (and often smaller) to the size of the “fringe/relish” by proportion. The fringe/relish is in quotes because it plays a different role. Instead of imbuing flavour, softening the ugali and making it easier to chew/swallow, the fringe/relish is nutritious and helps to balance the meal.
On a typical plate, there is a vegetable portion to provide a healthy dose of daily vegetables and a large-enough animal/plant components to provide adequate protein. Animal protein sources such as meat may be more common than plant components.
The centrepiece of the meal is no longer ugali but what it is served with – the vegetables + protein sources. The roles of ugali are minimized to soaking up the stew sauces or liquids and providing a bite and texture to the rest of the meal.
For example, in a serving of beef stew and ugali, the beef is the centrepiece; ugali only provides a wrap for the meat pieces and soaks up the stews (picture this for a person eating this meal with their hands).
In consuming ugali this way, here comes an opportunity for substitution as discussed below.
Methods of Maize Substitution
Higher-income households are more likely to be successful at substituting ugali with rice/potatoes and other starches. For lower-income households, substitution is less likely. However, other grains that can make ugali (such as millet/sorghum) and tubers such as cassava can be encouraged to reduce the dependency on maize.
My suggestions are below:
1. Higher-income households should take one for the team
High-income households have the purchasing power and home processing capabilities to explore other starch alternatives such as tubers and other grains. Home processing resources include ovens to roast cassava, yams or sweet potatoes. This diversifies the use cases of these tubers or grains.
Presently, cassava and sweet potatoes are typically boiled or fried and served with tea, which limits the use case. Consequently, these foods have a consumption ceiling – the number of ways they can be consumed in a meal. Compare the consumption of cassava with wheat, which can be used in different ways for breakfast, lunch and dinner options.
Exploring additional use cases for cassava (and other tubers and grains) and adding home processing capabilities raises the consumption ceiling for these foods. Policies and consumer campaigns targeting wealthier households can make this happen. Whether or not it can move the needle in terms of reducing the demand for maize is a whole other matter.
2. Encouraging close alternatives – ugali from other grains
Grains and tubers can be dried to make flour. Traditionally, sorghums/millets and dried cassava were milled into flour to make ugali. Policies and consumer campaigns to encourage this could be useful.
However, these types of flour have to be as readily available as maize flour and cheaper too. As of now, pearl millet is going at Kshs 120 a kilogram and red sorghum at Kshs 90 a kilogram (depending on location and retail point), which is not significantly different from maize flour at Kshs 70-100 a kilogram.
These grains and tubers, often referred to as “indigenous” are possible. But consumers need some help in the know-how and resources to process and prepare them beyond simple boiling or porridge. This is why I often say the battle for “indigenous foods” is always in the kitchen…with the consumers never at the farm.
3. Boosting maize production and supply
Rather than consumer-level policies, I have often advocated for production level boosts in maize production for two reasons.
One, the production of alternative grains and tubers described above is still limited. Commercialization of agriculture increasingly makes it difficult to produce some grains/tubers. For example, tubers are difficult to store long-term compared to grains. As for sorghum and millet, pre-harvest, harvest and post-harvest processes are more laborious, increasing the costs of production.
Two, we are yet to fully exhaust production capacities for maize. Research shows we have a yield potential of 6 tonnes per hectare, and yet we realize only 1.6 tonnes.1 Large gaps exist – putting more land under irrigation, improving transport, more affordable inputs and more favourable market conditions – could boost maize production.
Bigger Picture
I am sceptic about the potential of substituting maize. However, I understand the importance of diet diversification especially in poorer countries like ours. For this reason, I am willing to stand behind any efforts to broaden what is served on the plate.
The bigger picture though, is that food is expensive in Kenya. Good, nutritious, diverse food is increasingly getting out of reach for many Kenyans.
Many low-income households depend on cheap animal protein sources like eggs and omena, whose prices have more than doubled in the last few years. The cost of legumes has also doubled. The price of lablab (njahi) and yellow beans, both common in the Nairobi household have gone from 100 and 90 shillings a kilo respectively to 200 each in less than three years.
As other food items become unaffordable, the dependency on ugali grows. Ugali is about satiety; it fills the household members’ stomachs quickly and more affordably.
Want to reduce Ugali dependency? Make other food types so affordable you do not need ugali to feel full.
The consequence of pricier foodstuffs is that the meals on the table are getting starchier. The portions of ugali are growing larger and larger while the relish is getting smaller or often lacking any protein component. Nutrition and development especially of children and health outcomes are likely to worsen.
This is a ticking time bomb.
Sources/Further Reading
1. Marenya et al., 2021, Trait preference trade-offs among maize farmers in western Kenya, Heliyon, 7(3) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06389
2. KALRO, (n.d), Maize https://www.kalro.org/maize/
3. Omondi, D, 2023 January 3rd, Kenya’s maize imports hit five-year high, Business Daily Africa
4. David, D, 2020, Provisioning the Posho: Labor Migration and Working-Class Food Systems on the Early-Colonial Kenyan Coast, Cambridge University Press
5. Mintz, S et al., 2001, Food Patterns in Agrarian Societies: The ”Core-Fringe-Legume Hypothesis” Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture, 1(3)