Muhoroni MP Onyango Koyoo has called on the government to allocate money to buy more than 14,000 bags of rice from farmers in Kisumu county.
Koyoo said the government should purchase rice from Ahero Irrigation Scheme and West Kano Irrigation like they did in Mwea Irrigation Scheme in Kirinyaga county.
He noted that recently, Agriculture CS Peter Munya announced that Sh700 million has been allocated to buy more than 100,000 bags of rice from Mwea Irrigation Scheme.
Munya said Sh100 million has already been released to enable the Kenya National Trading Corporation to start buying rice from the farmers.
KNTC is the state organ for buying rice on behalf of the Kenya government.
"Farmers should be treated equally and not left stranded with the commodity due to lack of ready market after investing heavily in farming," Koyoo said.
“We are appealing to the government to continue supporting our farmers to increase their income and achieve food security,” he said.
The MP also asked Governor Anyang Nyong’o to meet Munya to push for the interest of farmers in the county.
He spoke at Muhoroni CDF office in Chemelil during the disbursement of bursary cheques to Form One students joining National schools across the country.
A total of 66 students benefited from the Sh3.5 million national scheme programme. Additionally, 175 continuing students are also benefiting from the initiative.
Farmers have expressed fears of incurring huge losses if they do not find the market urgently.
National Irrigation Authority Western Kenya Schemes Senior manager Joel Tanui said there are 10,000 bags of rice worth Sh30 million in the store at Ahero Irrigation Scheme.
He said farmers should be helped to offload the rice to the market. Currently, harvesting is ongoing in the 2,000 acres of rice farm.
Previously, he said KNTC was buying the commodity at Sh45 per kilogramme from farmers but now they depend on brokers who pay them Sh32 per kilogramme.
KNTC bought rice for some time, but it stopped, leaving the farmers without a reliable market.
At West Kano Irrigation Scheme, there are 4,000 bags in the store with harvesting also ongoing in the 700 acres.
Last week, Munya said the agency would buy the rice at Sh85 per kilogramme as per the directive President Uhuru Kenyatta issued.
However, residents said the KNTC, which the government directed to buy their rice, had kept away from the area.
In February last year, President Uhuru Kenyatta directed that rice be bought at Sh85 per kilogramme, up from Sh45 for farmers to make a profit. He directed the agency to implement his directive with immediate effect.
-Edited by SKanyara
