Maize farmers in North Rift are blaming government officials for the woes facing the ailing National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB),
alleging of a scheme by the officials to benefit from its failure.
The angry farmers who converged in Kitale town complained of a lack of both commercial and subsidised top-dressing fertiliser in the region. They said the government had shown all indications that it was not concerned with their plight.
“The Government’s behaviour since NCPB was caught in the case with Erad Supplies speaks a lot. It has come to our realisation that some officials in the government stand to benefit a lot if the Cereals board is grounded,” said the Trans Nzoia Kenya National Federation of Agricultural producers (KENFAP) chairman Mr William Kimosong.
The farmers said it was illogical for the government to keep on supplying the subsidised farm inputs through the institution even when they were aware of the repercussions, among them the auction of the board’s assets.
“Why has the government not kept on hold services of the board pending the outcome of the case when they were much aware that any product that goes through the body is prone to auction?” wondered Mr Kimosong.
They said the country faced a major catastrophe because of the board's poor service in delivery of planting fertiliser this year. Top dressing fertiliser was also yet to arrive despite constant promises to farmers by the management.
They further wondered how NCPB could still be charged with the storage of grain reserves even with the danger of auction glaring at the country’s only alternative in case of a hunger outbreak.
“The delivery of D.A.P fertiliser was delayed and now there is no C.A.N when the transplanting stage is past. What is worse is that even the commercial distributors are now hoarding the farm input to come up with new prices,” said KNFAP treasurer Mr Tom Nyagechanga.
The farmers allege the government officials are mark timing to have all the assets of board sold out so that they can privately own it, taking advantage of miserable farmers.
A spot check by the Business Daily at the weekend established that there was no C.A.N fertilizer in outlets in Trans Nzoia and West Pokot counties in what farmers are claiming is hoarding by rogue traders.
A similar check on Monday established that only few dealers had stocked the input for sale with the prices shooting from Sh2600 to Sh3500 per 50kg bag.
Trans Nzoia, the country’s maize basket is set to post a drop from last year’s 30 million bags since 70 per cent of the farmers are yet to top dress their crops with them being turned away at the Kitale NCPB depot.
“This is the worst year that I have witnessed in my planting history. My crops are past the top dressing stage and there is no fertiliser owing to the woes faced by NCPB,” said Mr Martin Ngomati, a large scale farmer at Endebess area.
The farmers are now calling on the government to desist from channelling farm inputs through NCPB and instead make use of the Kenya Famers Association (KFA) to avoid unnecessary delays stalemates.
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