Fresh test on NCPB maize after Sh1bn grain declared unfit

The quality of maize in the Strategic Food Reserve will be reviewed amid concerns that grain worth more than Sh1 billion is unsuitable for human consumption despite a shortage which has sparked a rally in flour prices.

Officials from the Kenya Bureau of Standards, the Health Ministry and the East Africa Exchange (EAX) will test the maize stored in silos owned by the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB), which manages food reserve stocks.

Their appointment follows revelations that a quarter of maize stocks held at the NCPB is only fit for making animal feeds as Kenyans grapple with a grain shortage that has seen the cost of flour rise 16 per cent since March.

“We have appointed a team of experts to investigate the fitness our maize in the silos,” said NCPB chairman Geoffrey King’ang’i yesterday. The team will tomorrow collect grain samples at NCPB’s Bungoma depot.

The grains will be tested for moisture content, discolouration, impurities, size, foreign odours/matter, insects, breakage and aflatoxin.

The NCPB has been in the spotlight over the quality of its maize after millers rejected a larger portion of its grain.

READ: NCPB holds Sh1bn maize unfit for human use

Nearly 700,000 bags of maize were released on May 13 from the strategic grain reserve to millers at a lower price to curb the rising cost of flour.

Millers say the maize is not fit for milling. Maize should not be held for more than six months in silos and 24 months in conventional stores.

Some stocks have been in silos for about eight years. The NCPB said on Tuesday that its was holding 400,000 bags of maize worth nearly Sh1 billion which was unfit for human consumption.

It has 2.2 million bags of maize in the strategic grain reserve with nearly a quarter declared unfit for human consumption.

The price of a two- kilogramme packet of Jogoo flour is retailing at Sh110 from Sh95 in March, while Soko and Pembe brands are also up by Sh15. Maize prices have a big effect on inflation.