NCPB seeks Sh500 million more to buy maize from farmers
What you need to know:
NCPB has been buying a million bags every year from farmers in the last five years, with the rest of the crop sold to traders and millers.
The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) is seeking and additional Sh500 million to buy this season’s maize from farmers.
This would be the first time in the last five years that the board has bought more than two million bags. The new money will make it possible for the cereals board to buy an extra 217,391 bags of the commodity at Sh2,300 per bag.
The request comes after the Treasury on Monday released Sh1 billion to pay growers after it exhausted the earlier allocation of Sh2.7 billion that had been given for the exercise.
Agriculture Cabinet secretary Felix Koskei told the House Committee Tuesday that the ministry had requested for more money.
“We have sought additional Sh500 million from the National Treasury to clear this season’s maize purchases,” said Mr Koskei.
NCPB has been buying a million bags every year from farmers in the last five years, with the rest of the crop sold to traders and millers.
NCPB has so far paid for 1.4 million bags and taken 452,518 bags on credit that the Mr Koskei said the board is in the process of paying for.
Tension has been building up in the Rift Valley over the debt and the fact that NCPB has stopped buying maize from farmers, leaving them at the mercy of middlemen.
Middlemen are buying a 90 kilogramme bag of maize at Sh1,500 in the farms, taking advantage of growers with pressing needs while NCPB has been offering Sh2,300 per bag.
This comes at a time when maize prices are expected to hit Sh3,000 per 90-kilogramme bag by June this year from the current average of Sh1,800 when the current crop is expected to be exhausted.
The pressure on prices comes as the fields in South Rift and some parts of Nyanza are ravaged by drought, posing a threat to food security.
The crop has been affected at the tasselling stage, which is the most critical level of maize development, as the rain failure has stagnated their growth.
The short rain crop from the South Rift supplements the country’s food basket in the month of June when the crop from long rains run out.
The country produces close to 35 million bags in a year against a consumption of 40 million bags, making Kenya a maize-deficit country.
This indicates that the country has to import the rest of its requirements.
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