The Ministry of Agriculture has recommended a waiver of duty on yellow maize to allow the importation by processors as an intervention to lower the cost of feeds as directed by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Waiver of duty on yellow maize is one of the three measures that the ministry has forwarded to the National Treasury in line with the order from President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The Ministry of Agriculture has recommended a waiver of duty on yellow maize to allow the importation by processors as an intervention to lower the cost of feeds as directed by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Waiver of duty on yellow maize is one of the three measures that the ministry has forwarded to the National Treasury in line with the order from President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The measures also include removal of import duty on other raw materials like sunflower and cotton seed cakes and leasing of government land for local production of the two products.
The price of a 70 kilogramme bag of dairy meal has gone up from Sh2,500 in August last year to Sh3,400 currently, chick marsh is retailing at Sh4,200 from Sh3,250 while layers is now selling at Sh3,800 from Sh3,100. The high cost of feeds has seen farmers cut down on feeds as they seek to avoid high expenses involved in acquiring them, with over 30 processors shut.
“We drafted the framework on interventions and is now with the Treasury, some of things that we have proposed is allowing a duty free importation of yellow maize,” said Livestock Principal Secretary Harry Kimtai.
The implementation of this framework is behind schedule given the timelines that had been issued by Mr Kenyatta even as the cost of feeds in the market continue to soar.
President Uhuru Kenyatta had on October 20 directed the two ministries to come up with intervention measures within seven days to address high cost of feeds that are now at a historic high.
“To secure a reduction in the prices of animal feeds, I order and direct the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, jointly with the National Treasury, to issue within seven days, a framework that will facilitate the reduction of the cost of animal and chicken feeds,” Mr Kenyatta directed last month.
Mr Kimtai said they had engagement meetings with the relevant stakeholders and agreed on the way forward in addressing the rising cost of feeds.
Other long term intervention measures include leasing of government land to private players to grow cotton and sunflower for production of animal feeds in order to cut down on imports of these key raw material.
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