The NCPB is non-committal on the possibility of purchasing maize as prices remain high, averaging Sh3,000 per bag in high-producing areas of the North Rift.
Spokesman of the board Titus Maiyo said although they were yet to open depots for maize purchase, farmers are allowed to use the NCPB depots for storage and drying facilities at a fee.
“We are working with farmers who want to dry their maize and also use our facilities for storage,” Maiyo told the Star on phone.
A spot check at the NCPB depot in Eldoret showed it was largely idle with no maize purchases as in previous years.
“At the moment we are working with our farmers who come in for advice and those who want to use our facilities for drying and storage,” North Rift NCPB manager Gilbert Rotich said.
The Strategic Grains Reserve usually purchases maize through the NCPB but chairman of the SGR Dr Noah Wekesa has indicated the maize prices remain high to the benefit of farmers. For the first time in many years, they are receiving better market prices.
Wekesa says the SGR will later buy maize for the strategic reserves either from farmers or other sources.
The government will provide more than Sh5 billion to purchase four million bags of maize to fill up the strategic reserves that were depleted after most of the stocks were sold out to millers.
Farmers say they are happy with the current market prices but the NCPB should buy maize from them at not less than Sh3,500 per bag.
“The maize prices are fairly good at the moment because there was no importation of the commodity,” director of the Kenya Farmers Association Kipkorir Menjo said.
He said an acute shortage is anticipated in a mid-year, hence, the need for the NCPB to buy maize for the strategic reserves.
So far farmers in the North Rift counties of Uasin Gishu, Nandi, Trans Nzoia and Elgeyo Marakwet have sold more than eight million bags of maize to middlemen who are paying Sh2,800 to Sh3,200 per 90 kg bag.
The anticipate shortage will be a result of reduced production last year when farmers harvested about 34 million bags, down from 44 million bags the previous year.
(Edited by V. Graham)
