Kuria said there is a huge maize shortage and the country will be forced to import more stocks to avoid a food crisis.
“By February next year, there will be a shortage of 15 million bags. Let's agree to sell the maize we are holding. The government will not buy a single grain of maize. Even the imported maize will be procured by traders,” the CS said.
However, farmers' representatives, led by David Kiberenge, Samwel Korogoren, Kipkorir Menjo and Thomas Koech, said the majority of them were in the process of harvesting and drying their crop before selling it.
They termed "unwise" the decision by the government to allow maize imports when most local farmers are harvesting.
“We have asked for a meeting with CS Kuria and his agriculture counterpart because it seems the government is not keen to understand the sector before making key decisions such as importation,” Kiberenge said.
Kuria told farmers in the maize growing zones of Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Nandi and Bungoma that they should immediately release all the maize they have for sale.
The CS was speaking in Simwatet, Kiminini constituency, in Trans Nzoia on Saturday during the burial of journalist Evelyn Ogutu.
He said the Cabinet would meet Tuesday to discuss and give way forward on the matter.
“If farmers don’t release the maize to the market then we will have no option but to import because we cannot hoard maize locally yet our brothers and sisters are dying of hunger,” Kuria said.
He said maize imports would flood the markets and cause a price drop if farmers do not sell the stocks they have.
The CS said farmers should take advantage of the better prices in the market.
Farmers have been selling a 90kg bag of maize at between Sh4,800 and Sh5,300. The harvesting season started late September and most farmers are holding produce in their stores awaiting better prices.
Farmers in high producing areas say the current prices are the highest in the history of maize farming.
MPs from the North Rift region, led by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, Pokot South MP David Pkosing and Julius Ruto (Kesses), have opposed the importation plan, saying it would hurt local farmers who were yet to sell their maize.
They have demanded that the NCPB be opened to purchase maize from farmers before imports are considered.
Saboti MP Caleb Amisi challenged the CS to help build the capacity of maize farmers in the country’s food basket counties like Trans Nzoia.
“The GMO project will make the current administration unpopular. Concentrate on Hustlers Fund and other programmes because GMO will take you home early,” Amisi said.
Cherargei had five days ago told CS Kuria that it was wrong to import maize during the harvest season.
