Maize prices are expected to drop in the coming days once duty-free imports arrive in the country.
To save farmers from possible heavy losses, the government has adviced farmers that are still holding onto their produce from last year's harvest to dispose it as soon as possible.
Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi has asked the farmers to store only what they will need for consumption and sell the rest.
"Mimi tafadhali nawapea notice yule ako na mahindi kwa store uza sababu inaenda kufika wakati nitaleta chakula kutoka nje," he said.
(I'm giving you a notice, if you have maize in your store, please sell because a time is coming when I'll import food)
He spoke on Saturday when overseeing distribution of subsidised fertiliser to farmers in North Rift counties.
He toured NCPB depots in Narok, Bomet and Naivasha.
The fertiliser subsidy programme is aimed at helping farmers access the farm input at a reduced cost of Sh3,500 per 50kg bag.
On Monday, Linturi said duty-free white and yellow maize as well as rice will be in the country in the next two weeks.
The move is among short and long-term measures that the government has taken to bring down the cost of food in the country.
"I have ordered 1.4 million tonnes of white maize, I have ordered 1.1 million tonnes of rice and 500,000 tonnes of yellow maize...to ensure our animal feed millers [are] able to produce low-cost animal feeds," he said.
This means that about 16 million 90kg bags of white maize, about 2.2 million of 50kg of rice and about 5.6 million 90kg bags of yellow maize will be shipped into the country.
