Nakuru farmers complain about low wheat prices

Wheat farmers in a wheat field at Ilmashariani, Narok, during the start of harvesting season. Their Nakuru counterparts complain of the unfavourable wheat prices in their region. PHOTO | GEORGE SAYAGIE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Some of the farmers who spoke to the Nation in Nakuru Town this week want the millers to buy their grain at Sh3,500 saying the cost of production has increased over the years.
  • The farmers now want the government to import the commodity only when there is a shortage, saying with good subsidies on fertilizers and farming equipment they were capable of producing wheat to feed the entire nation.
  • Nakuru County executive in charge of Agriculture docket Dr Stanley Chepkowny attributed the drop in acreage to cost of machinery, diseases and poor prices which have ravaged the crop.

EARNINGS FROM WHEAT production in Nakuru County dropped from Sh2.8 billion in 2014 to Sh2.2 billion last year as farmers contemplate abandoning the crop due to poor prices.

The acreage under the crop shrank from 32,000 hectares to 29,000 hectares with the quantity in tonnage dropping from 96,000 tonnes to 84,000 tonnes.

The farmers have now urged the government to regulate the importation of wheat in the country to save them from incurring further losses.

Some of the farmers who spoke to the Nation in Nakuru Town this week want the millers to buy their grain at Sh3,500 saying the cost of production has increased over the years.

“Most of the farmers who harvested the crop are selling their produce at a throw-away price to millers because there is an influx of cheap imported wheat from abroad which most millers are preferring to buy,” said Mr John Njogu, a farmer from Mau Narok.

Speaking when he opened the Nakuru Agricultural Show last week, Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture Mr Willy Bett said that he had received complaints from the farmers on the low prices offered by millers.

COST OF MACHINERY

“Before the next consignment of imported wheat arrives in the country, the Ministry will constitute a pricing committee that will set prices of wheat to enable our farmers make good money from their harvest,” said Mr Bett.

Yesterday, some of the farmers complained that some of the imported wheat was of low quality in comparison to the locally grown wheat.

The farmers now want the government to import the commodity only when there is a shortage, saying with good subsidies on fertilizers and farming equipment they were capable of producing wheat to feed the entire nation.

“Wheat imports are as a result of the government ignoring the plight of farmers who are facing many challenges including lack of machinery, diseases and increasing cost of production due to high prices of farm inputs,” said Mr John Saitoti a farmer from Njoro.

Nakuru County executive in charge of Agriculture docket Dr Stanley Chepkowny attributed the drop in acreage to cost of machinery, diseases and poor prices which have ravaged the crop.

The main wheat growing areas include Njoro, Bahati, Rongai, Mau Narok, Kuresoi North and Naivasha.