Alarm over shortage and cost of maize flour

• Price of staple meal has shot up in the last one week and is too high for the poor

And Mr Ruto said the cereals board had decided not to sell maize to millers.

In an interview with NTV, he said the decision was made by the NCPB board, and had nothing to do with him.

However, Mr Mohamed and NCPB managing director Gideon Misoi said that three ministries — Agriculture, Finance and Special Programmes — had stopped the board from selling maize to private millers.

Millers, too, told the Nation that for weeks now, they have been unable to buy maize from the board, which is the country’s biggest buyer of the grain.

“We hope the price will come down soon. Millers should not use the shortage to make a kill on the poor. Maize flour should be affordable to each and every Kenyan,” the PM said.

Mr Odinga said the Ministry of Agriculture and that of Special Programmes were working on recommendations on how to lower the cost of maize flour and that the matter will be discussed when the Cabinet meets.

Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka described the food crisis as serious, especially when coupled with inflation and unemployment. He said the shortage would put a strain on the budgets of many households as majority of poor families could not afford the Sh120 charged for a packet of maize flour.

He said the Government was working on a mechanism to address the shortage in a “realistic way” without importing too much that would affect producer prices.

Ongoing harvesting of maize in major growing areas of the North Rift is expected to increase maize stocks nationally although earlier in the year, some farmers failed to plant saying the price of fertiliser and fuel was too high.

Mr Shah said the price of maize was reducing globally and maize flour prices could also go down in the country by January.

“We agree farmers should get income, but we also need to have enough food,” Mr Shah said.

According to him, increased hijacking of ships by Somali pirates had also made many shipping firms to stop bringing food products to the region, leading to high prices.

Additional reporting by John Ngirachu