Middlemen fleecing farmers, says MP
Farmers fill maize into sacks after harvesting. The government should re-look into policies and laws that hinder distribution of food from the country's bread basket to areas facing acute shortage. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP.
What you need to know:
- Mr Bett also called for the improvement of maize prices. Last season, the government allocated Sh3.4 billion to the board to buy more than one million bags of maize.
- Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Felix Koskei last month said that the State had allocated Sh2.7 billion for buying maize this season.
Re-open the cereals board to save maize farmers from exploitation, Kesses MP James Bett has said.
The lawmaker said farmers are being fleeced since the National Cereals and Produce Board depots are closed.
He said farmers are incurring losses as their produce is rotting as a result of the onset of the short rains.
“It is unfortunate that farmers lack a place to sell their cereals, yet North Rift is the bread basket of the country,” said the MP.
The MP was addressing journalists at Tarakwa Secondary School in Uasin Gishu on Saturday, during the presentation of a school bus bought through the Constituency Development Fund.
Mr Bett also called for the improvement of maize prices. Last season, the government allocated Sh3.4 billion to the board to buy more than one million bags of maize.
“We need better prices since most farmers in the region were forced to replant the crops owing to damage as a result of a dry spell and an outbreak of the Maize lethal Necrosis Disease,” said Mr Bett.
AFFORDABLE RATES
He said farmers would incur extra costs of drying their crop to attain the 13 per cent moisture content required by private millers.
“Apart from rotting, the maize will be destroyed by pests due to poor storage facilities,” said a farmer, Mr Wesley Too, from Chepkumia in Nandi.
The board’s managing director, Mr Newton Terer, said there are plans to provide storage at affordable rates.
“We have started transferring cereals from our silos in the North Rift to enable farmers to access storage,” Mr Terer said by phone.
The board is charging Sh93 monthly for the storage of a 90kg bag of maize. However, farmers complain that the cost is high.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Felix Koskei last month said that the State had allocated Sh2.7 billion for buying maize this season.
Maize prices in the region have dropped from Sh2,400 to Sh1,600 in the past two weeks due to the market being flooded by cheap imports.
Farmers said millers are taking advantage of the East African Community common market to import maize and wheat from Uganda and Tanzania through the Suam border point, destabilising prices.
