The maize crisis in the Rift Valley has once again sparked off a major political and economic storm, which has split leaders in the region and left farmers staring at a possible bleak future in their farming.
With a very unstable market for maize, whose prices at the moment limit any benefits for producers, there has been debate on farmers diversifying to grow other crops such as avocado but this has equally caused the maize crisis to take an interesting political angle.
In the middle of the crisis, many farmers wonder if there is any need to go back to their farms early next year.
When the Strategic Food Reserves Fund chairman Noah Wekesa announced Sh2,300 price as the new maize price at the
National Cereals and Produce Board, farmers and governors immediately rejected the offer. They are now demanding not less than Sh3,600 per bag, the amount NCPB offered last year.
Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri and the Presidential task force on the maize crisis are considering a review of the price upwards.
They are, however, caught up in a difficult position because maize imports have flooded the local markets and a 90kg bag of maize is selling as low as Sh1,000.
The NCPB is conducting a probe in to the maize purchase scams, in which brokers bought maize at a cheaper rate outside teh country
and filled up NCPB’s stores, gulping much of the more than
Sh11 billion the government used to buy maize this year at the expense of ordinary farmers.
The rogue traders were also involved in importation of substandard fertiliser cashing in on the subsidy programme, which was to benefit farmers.
The NCPB still owes farmers Sh2.1 billion and the restless farmers have been frequently meeting in Eldoret to chart a way out of the crisis.
It is at one the recent meetings that rebel Jubilee MPs Alfred Keter (Nandi Hills), Joshua Kutuny (Cherangany) and Sila Tiren (Moiben) sparked off a political storm by demanding that Deputy President William Ruto be probed over the maize and fertiliser scams.
They claim the alleged involvement by the DP, his allies and people linked to him has impoverished farmers.
“We did not come out on this matter just for the sake of it but we know what is happening, and we have full details which we will give at the right time,” Kutuny said.
Kutuny and his colleagues have even named Koilel Ltd as one of the companies they claim is linked to the DP, and was involved in the maize and fertiliser scams
The boldness with which the MPs came out to link the Deputy President to these scams has left many wondering why they did so, and if the claims are part of the never ending political supremacy battles in the region led by Baringo Senator Gideon Moi.
Allies of the DP of Ruto led by Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi have claimed Kutuny and his allies are "hired political guns" using the maize issue to undercut DP Ruto and advance Gideon’s political agenda ahead of 2022 election.
“Kutuny and his team have absolutely no evidence to link DP Ruto to the maize scandals. They should know the Kalenjins are not fools because we have seen even on TV stations some of them acting as ushers for someone at Kabarak. It’s the same person they are speaking for,” Sudi said.
Admitting the maize issue is a thorny one in the region, Sudi and Soy MP Caleb Kostany credit the DP for ensuring farmers earn better from their harvest and also access subsidised fertiliser at a cost as low as Sh1,200 per 50kg bag down from Sh6,000 before Jubilee came to power.
“It’s during the Moi era that farmers were being paid Sh400 per bag and every other firm linked to farmers such as KCC [Kenya Co-operative Creameries]
collapsed,” Sudi said.
Sudi has said the three rebel MPs should stop hosting meetings to undermine the DP in his own backyard.
Sudi asks why the Keter camp has not used Parliament to advance farmers' issues. In response, Tiren says the same cartels fight to ensure farmers issues, especially funding, never see light of the day in the House
Speaking on NTV on Tuesday, Kutuny said they will use every available avenue, including talkshows, to advocate farmers' issues.
Gideon has, on the other hand, refused to be dragged into the political schemes around maize politics and instead says leaders should help save farmers from the crisis.
Kanu branch officials led by Paul Kibet have challenged Ruto and his team to answer questions raised by the rebel MPs and directly tackle the crisis.
“The maize crisis is the creation of Ruto and his team and we will not allow them to use Gideon as a scapegoat,” Kibet said.
Farmers
say they are not interested in the political contests over the maize scam but they blame some political leaders of playing sycophancy, while ignoring their plight.
“We have raised many issues to help improve agriculture but some of the people elected as leaders don’t support our agenda. We appreciate Keter, Kutuny and Tiren for what they have done, even if it’s a bitter pill to swallow for other leaders,” Kipkorir
Menjo, a Kenya Farmers Association director, said.
Menjo says Kenya is a signatory to the Maputo Declaration, which requires governments to use at least 10 per cent of their budgets on agriculture, which MPs have failed to push for.
“We have skewed policies that benefit the cartels and frustrate farmers,” Menjo says.
Moira Chepkok, a farmer,
says agricultural institutions such as the NCPB, Agriculture Finance Corporation, Kenya Seed and ADC, among others, are all facing challenges due to poor funding and poor government policies.
The country harvests about 40 million bags of maize annually, which is likely to decreases owing to the crisis, unpredictable weather and high cost of farm inputs.
Against this backdrop, some leaders such as Uasin Gishu governor Jackson Mandago and Sudi backed by the DP started advising farmers to diversify and grow other crops such as cabbages, macadamia and avocado from which they can earn better returns.
With this proposal enters another contestation.
Keter and Co say the diversification plan is another scheme by Ruto and his allies to reap from farmers.
They say asking farmers to diversify will result in shortage, giving a leeway for cartels to import maize.
“They have not asked Kenyans to stop eating ugali, which Kenya’s main food, yet they want us to stop growing maize. Its cartel business,” Tiren said.
The rebel MPs have even linked the DP to a plan to grow maize on 500,000 acres in Congo and another scheme to set up a Macadamia factory in Botswana.
However, Sudi argues that Kalenjins were not assigned the duty to grow maize for Kenyans and his team wants Rift Valley farmers to grow other crops as well.
Ruto is yet to personally respond to the claims although his spokesman, David Mugonyi, dismissed them as rubbish.
The maize saga threatens to destabilise the Rift Valley base for Ruto's 2022 bid, and analysts say the faster he resolves the crisis the better for him.
Keter accuses Ruto of giving farmers false promises and concentrating on his 2022 ambitions as farmers in his backyard suffer.
"The DP should shelve his 2022 presidential ambitions and tackle the problems hurting Kenyans first,"
Keter said.
“We want to tell the DP that we know the problems and cartels frustrating farmers are directly linked to him and his office. That’s why we want all leaders probed. We are also ready to be probed.” ,
"The way things are, it’s the politics of Ugali that may make or break some leaders in Rift Valley come 2022,” Menjo says.