Livy does not imply that under the consulship of Geganius. Your premise conflates two separate grain crises and historical periods.

Livy’s narrative context establishes that:

1. Chronological Separation

The First Plebeian Secession took place in 494 BC. The severe famine following it occurred in 492 BCbecause the plebeians had abandoned the fields to strike on the Sacred Mount. It was during this 492 BC crisis—four decades earlier—that Rome first sent envoys to import grain from Sicily, Etruria, and Cumae to alleviate the starvation (Ab Urbe Condita, 2.34). [1, 2, 3]

The consulship of Marcus Geganius Macerinus took place much later, in 440–439 BC (Ab Urbe Condita, 4.12). [1]

2. What Actually Happened Under Geganius

During Geganius's term, Rome did not successfully import Sicilian grain. Livy explicitly states that the state's efforts to secure foreign grain were a failure.

When the 440 BC famine struck, the newly appointed prefect of the corn supply, Lucius Minucius, attempted to send embassies to neighboring regions. However, Livy notes that no grain came from abroad (nihil ex externis locis frugum apportato). Because utilitarian state measures failed, Minucius resorted to drastic rationing: [1]

• Forcing citizens to declare their private grain stocks
• Cutting the daily food rations of slaves
• Prosecuting and publicly exposing grain hoarders [1]

3. The True "Utilitarian" Exploitation

Livy does not portray the situation as a calculated state measure to quell a strike. Rather, he implies that the vacuum left by the ineffectiveness of Geganius's government was exploited for personal political gain by a wealthy plebeian knight named Spurius Maelius.

Maelius used his immense private fortune to buy up grain from Etruria and distribute it to the starving masses for free. Livy views this not as true charity, but as a dangerous, populist bid to buy the loyalty of the plebeians and overthrow the Republic to establish a monarchy (Ab Urbe Condita, 4.13).

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If you would like to explore this further, we can look into:

• How the patricians reacted to Spurius Maelius's private grain distribution
• The role of the dictator Cincinnatus in resolving the Geganius-era crisis
• A deeper look at the 492 BC famine and how Sicilian grain played into the immediate aftermath of the first secession