An NCPB store: The agency says it has enough grains to last the country until September despite keeping some 400,000 bags for more than two years. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
The 400,000 bags of maize worth nearly Sh1 billion have been in the NCPB stores for more than two years.
NCPB holds 2.2 million bags of maize in the strategic grain reserve and 1.3 million 90kg bags are less than two years old.
Kenya consumes about three million bags monthly, a pointer that the reserve is holding less than the optimum amount of maize.
The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) is holding 400,000 bags of maize worth nearly Sh1 billion that is unfit for human consumption amid a grains shortage that has sparked a rally in flour prices.
Managing director Newton Terer on Tuesday told the Public Investments Committee (PIC) that the maize has been in the NCPB stores for more than two years.
The board holds 2.2 million bags of maize in the strategic grain reserve and 1.3 million 90kg bags are less than two years old. Kenya consumes about three million bags monthly, a pointer that the reserve is holding less than the optimum amount of maize.
“This maize is in good condition. The only problem is with the 400,000 bags, which have been lying in our stores for more than two years,” Mr Terer told MPs.
Millers reckon that the bad maize can only be used in making animal feeds. 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, and they are linked to failure to sell old stocks full of weevils as the country faces a biting maize shortage.
The NCPB manages the food reserve stocks, which entails purchasing, storage, distribution, maintenance and disposal as instructed by the principal secretary in charge of Agriculture.
Mr Terer told MPs that the delay in the sale was occasioned by failure by the board of trustees to instruct NCPB to dispose of the maize.
“There have been delays in refreshing the stocks from the SFR board records, the stocks which had overstayed in the store and were meant to have been disposed were 1,873,731 bags held at various silos and conventional storage facilities,” he told MPs.
Maize should not be held for more than six months in silos and 24 months for those in conventional stores for proper stock quality management, he told the parliamentary committee.
Some stocks have been in the silos for about eight years. The price of maize flour crossed Sh100 in April with millers attributing the rally to increased maize shortage.
The price of a two- kilogramme packet of Jogoo brand 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 in Kenya where it is a staple food and accounts for a significant share of poor households’ budget. Inflation stood at five per cent last month, down from 5.27 per cent in April.
Mr Terer told the MPs that there are enough stocks to last until September when next harvest is expected in the South Rift.
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