Maize deliveries to the NCPB have increased in the last week and the board has bought more than 100,000 bags in the North Rift after prices increased from Sh2,500 per bag to Sh2,700.
Farmers still want Sh3,200.
The NCPB aims to purchase at least one million bags.
Farmers had been reluctant to sell their maize to the depots, demanding better prices. Officials at depots said prices and deliveries have increased in two weeks.
Board CEO Joseph Kimote says the board is using its own resources to purchase maize.
“The purchase is part of our own commercial activities and not part of the Strategic Grain Reserves," Kimote said. He said the board had adequate capacity to buy the maize.
Millers in Rift Valley and other dealers have increased their own prices to about Sh2,850 per bag to attract the farmers.
“We are still in talks with the government so they increase prices at NCPB to slightly more than Sh3,000 per bag so farmers earn profit," Moiben MP Silas Tiren said.
Tiren, who is chairman of Parliament's Agriculture committee, said farmers will make profit if prices are Sh3,200 per bag, taking into acount the costs of inputs and other activities.
Tiren and director of the Kenya Farmers Association Kipkorir Menjo have praised the government for banning imported maize.
“This will ensure farmers are protected from unstable markets because prices will remain good," Menjo said. He said the farmers had produced adequate maize this year and no imports should be allowed until local produce is exhausted.
More than 40 million bags were harvested last year, up from 35 million bags i2019. Tiren also attributed the ncreased harvests to use of quality fertiliser after the government scrapped the subsidised fertilizer programme.
“So far we are happy reforms in the agriculture sector are good for farmers . We urge CS Peter Munya to work closely with so we can achieve sustained adequate production for the country," Tiren said.
(Edited by V. Graham)
