NCPB raises maize price to Sh5,600

Maize farmers will be smiling all the way to the bank as the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) today begins to buy a 90kg bag at Sh5,600.

The price of dry maize had dropped to Sh4,500 a bag, triggering protests from farmers in maize growing areas.

NCPB Managing Director Joseph Kimote said there will be no delays in payment of suppliers as it has been the case in the past.

Kimote said the decision to purchase the maize at a higher price was reached by the NCPB board on Wednesday and urged farmers with the commodity to deliver it to the NCPB depots.

“Our facilities are open and we want farmers to come and transact business with us. There will be no delay as we pay immediately through M-Pesa and prompt bank transfers,” Kimote said.

Appearing before the Public Investment Committee (PIC) of the National Assembly, Kimote said the country was facing a serious maize shortage with a paltry 50,000 bags in the board’s stores.

WFP donations

Responding to a question from committee chairman Emmanuel Wangwe on the status of the country’s grain reserve, Kimote said the situation is worrying.

He told members that the board had not received any allocations from the National Treasury to purchase maize for its strategic reserve.

Kimote told MPs that the 50,000 bags in their stores came from the World Food Programme (WFP) as donations.

“We did not get any money from the Treasury to buy maize for strategic reserves,” Kimote said.

The MD said the board welcomed the decision by the government to issue subsidized fertilizer to farmers, saying it will increase production especially in the North and South Rift regions which are the country’s bread basket.

Kimote, however, found himself on the receiving end as members demanded that he makes public the list of the 50 traders who are licensed to import duty-free maize.

“Do we know the licensed maize traders under your custody because this is a question that has been controversial and in the minds of many Kenyans? posed Saboti MP Caleb Amisi.

Imports disputes

In response, Kimote said the matter of imports was under the jurisdiction of the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA).

“That is a reserve of the Agriculture Food Authority. They are the ones in charge of all imports,” he said.

The development comes at a time when Kenyans are grappling with the high cots of maize flour. Currently, a 2kg packet is retailing at Sh190.

The price was expected to come down as some 900,000 tonnes of duty-free maize imports had been scheduled to arrive from February 1.

The maize imports programme has been held hostage by pricing wars, with millers boycotting the bids that have been snapped up by unnamed traders.

On subsidized fertilizer, Kaiti MP Joshua Kimilu raised concern that some of it was not fit for use especially in areas that receive short rains.

According to Kimilu, in the lower Eastern region, it only rained for two weeks and the fertilizer went to waste.

Kimote said the board had received such complaints and had engaged Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (Kalro) who are yet to submit its report so as to inform their decision on distribution of fertilizers to some areas.

The Ministry of Agriculture has allowed traders to import 900,000 tonnes of duty-free white maize and 600,000 tonnes of milled rice from next month up to August.

Farmers listing

Farmers in North Rift, where harvesting is still going on, are panic selling to avoid possible losses when the market is flooded with cheap imports.

The decline in maize prices is a pain for farmers grappling with rising production costs. For instance, the Kenya Seed Company has increased the cost of maize seed, with a 25-kg bag going for Sh4,700 up from Sh4,500.

The country is projected to harvest 30 million bags against an annual consumption of 45 million bags with the imports meant to plug the deficit.

The government has embarked on the registration of farmers to benefit from low-cost fertiliser that will be selling at Sh3,500, compared to Sh6,300 last season.

But the Kenya National Farmers’ Federation (Kenaff) has demanded to be allowed to solely undertake the registration of farmers for the subsidy programme to curb malpractices. The farmers umbrella body said it is better placed to carry out the exercise as it already has a register of 1.6 million members countryw

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