The planned purchase of one million bags of maize by NCPB can deliver the double-effect of improving food security preparedness and setting better returns for farmers who have since last year been left with no option but surrender their produce to private millers.
The government must not relent on its earlier strategy to lock out such cartels, including a decision in 2019 to vet and compile a register of genuine farmers and impose quotas on the amount of maize that each small-holder farmer can be allowed to sell to the NCPB.
The commencement of maize purchases from farmers by the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) is encouraging, considering the fact that the agency did not pick up supplies from growers last year.
Although some farmers may take issue with the NCPB’s price offer of Sh2,500 for a 90-kilo bag of maize, the purchases bring hope of strengthening the national strategic food reserve (SFR) and stabilising prices in a market that has been abused by some middlemen.
The planned purchase of one million bags of maize by NCPB can deliver the double-effect of improving food security preparedness and setting better returns for farmers who have since last year been left with no option but surrender their produce to private millers for lowly prices of between Sh2000 and Sh2,200.
Caution must, however, be exercised to ensure order and transparency in the NCPB purchase scheme. The exercise has over the years been dogged by controversy amid concerns about infiltration by brokers as was witnessed in 2018. Thousands of farmers were left stranded with their produce even as the NCPB silos spilled with stocks shipped in from neighbouring countries by brokers who were cashing in on the loophole.
The government must not relent on its earlier strategy to lock out such cartels, including a decision in 2019 to vet and compile a register of genuine farmers and impose quotas on the amount of maize that each small-holder farmer can be allowed to sell to the NCPB.
The Strategic Food Reserve Trust Fund (SFRTF) capped purchases at 400 (90kg) bags for every registered maize grower—marking a break from the past when the quantity was unregulated.
The vetting of growers and imposing of the quotas helped clear some mess from the maize purchase scheme and such effort must be upheld even as the NCBP resumes purchases of maize stocks this year.
Transparency will be key in the success of the purchase scheme. The SFRTF, NCPB the Agriculture ministry as well as county governments should ensure only genuine growers benefit.
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