NCPB has been ordered to dry maize at no extra cost to the farmers. The government’s latest bid to fill up the national granary by offering maize farmers high prices has turned the spotlight on its role in the market as households forego low prices associated with the harvest season. Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
The World Bank has criticised the Sh3,000-a-bag price offer, saying that it has left Kenya with one of the highest maize prices in the world. Apart from local production, households rely heavily on cross-border grain inflows from Uganda, and Tanzania to stabilise national prices.
Latest data gathered by the Regional Agricultural Intelligence Network indicates that as at Friday last week, the ongoing harvests in the region had depressed maize prices in Uganda to Sh2,128 a bag while Tanzania’s average price was Sh2,613.
The government’s latest bid to fill up the national granary by offering maize farmers high prices has turned the spotlight on its role in the market as households forego low prices associated with the harvest season.
While weekly data gathered by the Agriculture ministry this month indicates that the price of a bag of dry maize has dropped to a low of Sh2,500 in places such as Kitale, the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) has offered a blanket Sh3,000.
“We would like to advise farmers who had deposited their grain with NCPB under the Warehouse Receipt System (WRS) to take advantage of the current good price to release their stocks,” NCPB managing director Gideon Misoi said last week.
In the past, households have been enjoying prices as low as Sh1,200 per bag during harvest time as farmers look for quick cash to pay bills such as school fees. This price level is, however, lower than the average Sh1,800 per bag that a farmer spends to produce one bag of maize.
“The purchase of maize, which meets the requisite quality standards, will commence immediately in all parts of the country where harvesting has begun and payment will be made promptly upon delivery,” Prof Misoi said.
The World Bank has criticised the Sh3,000-a-bag price offer, saying that it has left Kenya with one of the highest maize prices in the world. Apart from local production, households rely heavily on cross-border grain inflows from Uganda, and Tanzania to stabilise national prices.
Latest data gathered by the Regional Agricultural Intelligence Network indicates that as at Friday last week, the ongoing harvests in the region had depressed maize prices in Uganda to Sh2,128 a bag while Tanzania’s average price was Sh2,613.
Households in Rwanda and Burundi — which like Kenya are net importers of grains — were buying maize at Sh3,328 and Sh3,395 a bag respectively.
Only last week, fertiliser dealers blamed the government’s input subsidy policy for causing a distortion in the market and failing to lower prices of agricultural commodities.
“The subsidy programme, which hands farmers inputs at Sh2,000 per bag accounts for just five per cent of national fertiliser consumption,” said Mea Ltd MD Eustace Muriuki.
“We don’t oppose the subsidy, but let it be extended to the private sector so that the country may have a uniform price for fertiliser.” Kenya consumes 500,000 tonnes of fertiliser annually.
