•The board had opened its depots last month to start maize purchases at Sh1,305 per 50kg bag but the farmers refused to sell at low prices, made no deliveries.
•The board has increased the prices to Sh1,500 per 50kg bag, Sh2,700 per 90kg bag. Farmers ay that's still too low and want about Sh3,400 per 90kg bag.
Maize farmers and the NCPB have hit a stalemate over prices.
The National Cereals and Produce Board said it will not increase maize prices any further and wants farmers to deliver to its depots.
But NCPB managing director Joseph Kimote says they are yet to receive deliveries as expected despite opening depots almost a month ago.
Two days ago the board increased maize prices to attract farmers.
The board had opened its depots last month to start maize purchases at Sh1,305 per 50kg bag but the farmers rejected the prices as too low and did not deliver produce.
The board gave in and increased prices to Sh1,500 per 50kg bag and Sh2,700per 90kg.
“That price is what we can afford and we urge farmers to deliver their produce. We have very little trickling in," an NCPB statement said.
Farmers remain unwilling to sell and want aize prices increased to about Sh3,400 per 90kg bag.
“What the NCPB is offering is still quite low and with that we cannot make any profits," farmers' representative Christopher Kolum said.
He said the board and the government should always consult farmers before setting maize prices so they agree on the best way forward to protect farmers and enable them produce more.
The board initially planned to buy 500,000, 50kg bags but the board will review the purchase at depots in major producing areas over time.
Moiben MP Silas Tiren, who is also the chairman of the parliamentary committee on Agriculture, said farmers would meet in the next few days to discuss maize prices.
“We will meet farmers so we again hear their views on the price issue," Tiren said.
He said the price must be set with consideration of the cost of farming. He said President Uhuru Kenyatta should direct the NCPB to increase the prices and buy not fewer than two million bags.
MD Kimote said NCPB was using its own commercial funding, not money from the government, to buy maize.
“We have reviewed the prices considering the view from the farmers and at that is [all] we can do at the moment,” Kimote said.
Counties in the region have said maize production was declining every year because of challenges, specially poor prices and lack of markets.
Kolum said they wanted better prices because the cost of farm inputs remains high, forcing many farmers to reduce acreage under maize production every year.
(Edited by V. Graham)