Farmers asked to register to avoid missing out on Government subsidies.

Farmers not registered by the Ministry of Agriculture risk missing out on agricultural subsidies as the Government cracks down on unscrupulous maize traders and fertiliser dealers, says Cabinet Secretary, Mwangi Kiunjuri.

The move, he says, is intended to identify genuine farmers across the country and weed out those who take advantage of the subsidies by engaging in dishonest dealings, which in the end amount to defrauding the genuine farmers, for whom the subsidisations are intended.

This emerged after the ministry noted an incessant increase of maize delivery trucks in the Nakuru, Eldoret, Bungoma and Moi’s Bridge National Cereals and Produce Board stores, which proved suspicious.

“The ever increasing number of lorries delivering maize to these stores could be dishonest traders acquiring maize inexpensively from neighbouring countries and reselling it to the cereals board, to exploit the favourable prices that farmers here get. Since it is difficult to discern which maize comes from the farmers in the country and which comes from outside, the noble course is to vet and register the farmers to identify the genuine ones before we take their maize or supply them with subsidised fertiliser,” says the CS.

He notes that the fact that farmers from the neighbouring countries use similar seeds as those used in the country, makes it hard to identify the source of the maize, which becomes a loophole that the unscrupulous traders take advantage of, and hence the stringent measures the ministry is imposing.

Mr Kiunjuri further notes that the initial threats of diminished harvest due to the droughts and fall army worm menace didn’t extensively affect the country’s production.

“As of March 22nd 2018, the Government had purchased 3.4M bags of maize, worth Sh10.98bn from farmers. Sh7.05bn have already been paid to the farmers leaving a balance of Sh3.93bn,” he says, adding that the Government’s fixed price for maize is Sh3,200.

In the same breath, CS Kiunjuri put on notice conniving dealers who unscrupulously engage in the trade of the subsidised fertiliser.

COOPERATE WITH REGISTRATION PROCESS

“The government procured 2.3M bags of fertiliser, which is meant to ensure farmers acquire it at Sh1,500 for a 50kg bag and not Sh1,800. About 900,000 of these have already been distributed while the remaining are being delivered to stores and farmers should get it by end of next week. However, those taking advantage of the gaps in farmers’ vetting processes to access these subsidies, will be reprimanded,” he says, and notes that at least four officials from the board have thus far been suspended, pending further investigation.

He adds that the Government has put in place surveillances and monitoring for these vices, and staff colluding with the unscrupulous dealers cautioned, with stringent counteractions to be meted on them.

For the farmers’ registration, the CS says measures have been put in place by the National and County Governments to make certain that they are registered before the start of this coming harvesting season, and those not registered yet before then, will have to be strictly vetted to establish that they are genuine farmers from the country, before their maize is accepted.

This similarly applies to subsidised fertiliser distribution in which the Cereals Board will strictly comply with the subsidy fertiliser disbursement guidelines during the input’s dissemination.

In the recent past, maize farmers in the crop’s producing regions have complained that the cross-border trade in cereals is hurting them while favouring millers.

This called for the Ministry of Agriculture’s intervention in protecting the farmers to ensure they benefit from the Government’s subventions.

Noting that if these measures are not implemented farmers will continue to suffer experiencing the same challenges, the ministry has appealed to them to promptly cooperate with the registration process to facilitate efficient delivery and receipt of subsidised fertiliser and farmers’ maize, respectively.