•Each miller has been given limits and the total imports shall not exceed the respective targets
•In his address during Mashujaa Day celebrations, President Uhuru directed the National Treasury and Agriculture ministries to come up with intervention measures to address the high cost of feeds.
Image: TREASURY
The National Treasury has effected a directive by President Uhuru Kenyatta to remove duty on imported materials used in the manufacture of animal and chicken feed.
Treasury CS Ukur Yatani allowed 18 millers to import the raw materials duty-free between November 1 and October 31, 2022.
Each miller has been given limits and the total imports shall not exceed the respective targets.
The total import target in metric tonnes for yellow maize is 225,950, soya bean meal (126,300), soya bean (58,250), cottonseed cake (20,500), sunflower seed cake (83,300), white sorghum (34,000) and fish meal (28,750).
The companies selected include Belfast Millers Limited, Unga Farm Care (EA) Limited, Pembe Flour Mill Limited, Mombasa Maize Millers Limited, Economy Farm Feeds Product (K) Limited, Isinya Feeds Limited and Bidco Africa Limited.
Others are Treasure Feeds Limited, Sigma Feeds Limited, Rift Valley Products Limited, Organic Proteins Limited, Muringa Limited, Maisha Flour Mills Limited and Kitale Industries Limited.
In his address during Mashujaa Day celebrations, Uhuru directed the National Treasury and Agriculture ministries to come up with intervention measures to address the high cost of feed.
“To secure a reduction in the prices of animal feeds, I order and direct the Agriculture CS, jointly with the National Treasury, to issue within seven days, a framework that will facilitate the reduction of the cost of animal and chicken feed,” he said.
In early November, the Agriculture ministry recommended a waiver of duty on yellow maize to allow importation by processors as an intervention to lower the cost of livestock feed.
Other measures suggested included removal of import duty on raw materials like sunflower and cottonseed cakes and leasing of government land for local production of the two products.
Waiver of duty on yellow maize was one of the three measures that the ministry forwarded to the National Treasury.
The country has been experiencing a shortage of eggs due to a hike in the price of chicken feed, leading to an increase in the retail price of the commodity.
This was after Zambia, a key source of animal feed imports to Kenya, banned the exports of soya and sunflower, which are the major raw materials used in feed production.
With the ban, the price of soya rose to Sh130 per kg from Sh65 a year ago, while sunflower increased from Sh25 to Sh35 per kilo.
In a gazette notice dated December 10, Yatani said imported yellow maize shall not be genetically modified.
“Its aflatoxin levels shall not exceed 10 parts per billion (ppb) as provided for under the laws of Kenya and Kenyan Standards (KS EAS2:2017) implemented by the Kenya Bureau of Standards and the Department of Veterinary Services under the State Department of Livestock,” he said.
He said soya bean, soya bean meal, cottonseed cake, sunflower cake, white sorghum or fishmeal shall not be genetically modified.
“It shall be accompanied by a certificate of conformity issued by the Kenya Bureau of Standards,” he said.
Yatani said all the imports shall be used for the manufacture of animal and chicken feed only and shall have been imported on or before October 31, 2022.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris