Nairobi, April 26 -- On the shores of Lake Turkana, a fisherman watches his catch rot under a blazing sun. Temperatures exceed 40 degrees Celsius. The nearest market is 400 kilometres away. By the time he finds a buyer, his fresh tilapia, worth Sh350 per kilogramme at market value, fetches just Sh50 at the landing site. He has no choice but to sell to whoever arrives first, before his harvest becomes worthless. This is not just a loss of resources used to catch the fish.

While the fisherman's loss is visible in the heat, other losses are silent. In Kenya's grain basket regions, a different tragedy unfolds. Maize, the country's primary staple, remains vulnerable to moisture and poor storage. It is estimated that Kenya loses between 12 per...