THE Kenyan government has instructed the state-owned National Cereals and Produce Board to immediately set up 26 new depots in the country to store maize, the state-owned KBC radio reported on Wednesday. The radio, quoting Agriculture minister Musalia Mudavadi, said famine is threatening some regions of Kenya because of drought, and that the government will buy three million bags of maize to replenish the country’s strategic reserves. The maize will be stored in the new depots in the north and south Rift Valley and in western Kenya’s Nyanza and Western provinces. Mudavadi said an initial 400-million shillings ($6,55m) has been set aside for the purchase.