Maize price increase ruled out

• Amount which farmers want is not sustainable, says minister

The Government has ruled out increasing the producer price of maize as demanded by farmers.

National Planning minister Wycliffe Oparanya said the Government would instead import maize at Sh2,700 per 90-kg bag to feed the more than 10 million Kenyans facing starvation.

Farmers are demanding Sh2,800 for a 90-kg bag but the Government is ready to pay them Sh1,950 for the same.

The farmers want the price reviewed for them to release their stocks.

Speaking to the press in Butere, Mr Oparanya said it would be difficult for the Government to pay the farmers Sh2,800 and sustain the price in future.

Emergency

“If we give them what they are demanding today, we shall be inviting trouble in future because the Government might not be able to sustain that,” the minister said.

The Butere MP said farmers must be content with what the Government was offering because the food shortage facing the country was an emergency.

Maize farmers in the North Rift have, meanwhile, offered to sell the grain to the Government at Sh2,500 for a 90-kg bag.

They said they were ready to release their grain to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) if they were offered Sh550 more than Sh1,950 instead of the Government importing the grain at a higher price.

Speaking at Eldoret’s NCPB depot where they assembled at the weekend, the farmers said their production costs rose after fuel prices hit a high of Sh120 a litre during the planting season last year.

They criticised the decision to import before buying the grain from them.

Led by large-scale farmers among them Mr Jackson Kibor, Mr Silas Tiren and Mr Timon Busienei, the group asked why the State did not control the prices of fertiliser last year before deciding to fix the price of the staple food at Sh1,950.

“Where were they (Government) when fertiliser and petroleum dealers cashed in on us?” they asked.

A 50-kg bag of fertiliser cost Sh4,000 last year.

Last week, the then acting Finance minister John Michuki accused farmers in the North Rift of hoarding maize as Kenyans starved.

But Mr Busienei said farmers had been selling their grain at their own volition.

He accused the Government of being insensitive to their plight and wondered if it was wise to continue farming.

“Businessmen and oil dealers took advantage of the post-election violence last year to exploit us on farm inputs but we soldiered on and cultivated the grain but the Government is now favouring an international farmer,” Mr Kibor said.

Farm inputs

A director of the ailing Kenya Farmers Association (KFA), Mr Kipkorir Menjo, said the only way of sourcing affordable farm inputs was through reviving the institution.

“KFA, like Kenya Cooperative Creameries, is for stabilising the prices of farm inputs, and we are wondering why the State has not done so as it pledged in its campaigns in the 2002 and 2007 general elections,” Mr Menjo said.

In Kuria West and Kuria East districts, maize farmers are withholding their grain to press for better payment from the Government.

They vowed not to deliver the cereal to the NCPB unless they were paid at least Sh2,500 a 90-kg bag.

“Instead of the Government using a lot of money to import the grain, why can’t they buy our produce first?” asked Mr Joseph Chacha from Ntimaru.

A spot check at Migori and Ntimaru NCPB depots showed they were not receiving maize from the farmers.

Although the subsidised maize flour has arrived in Migori District, the residents say the supplies will not sustain them for long.

Reported by John Shilitsa, Peter Ng’etich and Elisha Otieno