The state should buy all the maize from farmers to avoid flour shortage next year, Navakholo MP Emmanuel Wangwe has said.
Wangwe yesterday said maize prices have been fixed and the government should move to buy the harvest. The MP said the government should buy the maize in good time to shield the farmers from exploitation by middlemen. farmers expect to harvest about 40 million bags.
He said failure to buy the maize will leave the farmers with surplus.
“Farmers are still stuck with last year’s harvests in their stores yet the fresh crop is in the farms. Failure to buy the maize may leave the farmers disillusioned and cause a serious shortage if they quit maize farming,” Wangwe said. He was speaking in his constituency.
The Cabinet on Thursday approved the purchase of two million 90-kg bags of maize at Sh2, 300 each by the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB).
NCPB has been on the spot over a scandal in which unscrupulous traders were paid for deliveries at the expense of genuine farmers.
The board is yet to pay farmers some Sh2.1 billion which has delayed since December last year.
The farmers and some MPs from Rift Valley have rejected the government price, saying it is too low.
They threatened to hold protests if price is not increased to Sh3,200. citing high production costs.
On Friday, the farmers appealed to President Uhuru Kenyatta to intervene and fix the price at not below the Sh3,200 which NCPB has been paying them since last year.
MPs Joshua Kutuny (Cherangany), Silas Tiren (Moiben), Alfred Keter (Nandi Hills) and Joshua Kandie (Baringo Central) said the price was an insult to maize farmers.
Wangwe urged the government should buy and supply farm inputs in good time to avoid delaying farmers’ programmes.
“They should not believe there is a lot of maize, otherwise,” he said.
He urged the Agriculture ministry to conduct soil sampling tests to ensure it supplies the right type of fertiliser to farmers.
“The ministry has in the past bought and dumped DAP and CAN in NCPB depots without bothering to know whether the types of fertilisers benefit the farmers of not,” Wangwe said.
The MP said ministry officials were diverting subsidised fertilizer meant for sugarcane farmers and selling it to traders.
He said NCPB staff also collude with traders with whom they sell fertiliser. The traders later sell the fertiliser to farmers at higher prices.
“It beats the logic of the programme. Next year, we as elected leaders will physically oversee receipt and distribution of fertilizer to farmers,” Wangwe said.
