Economy

Farmers wants access to NCPB maize driers following rains

maize

Workers dry maize in Eldoret town. FILE PHOTO | NMG

A farmers lobby wants the Government to direct the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) to allow cereal growers to use its dryers and offer storage services following heavy rains that they say have subjected them to great losses.

Cereal Growers Association (CGA) says the Government should further offer subsidies to farmers in drying their maize at the depots to avert a looming food crisis that could result from post-harvest losses.

CGA chief executive officer Anthony Kioko says framers are grappling with bad weather following prolonged rains that has hampered harvesting of the main crop in the north rift.

“We want NCPB stores to be made available to farmers at this time when there is rain in order to save them from losses,” said Mr Kioko. The Strategic Food Reserve (SFR) announced last month that they will not be setting the price for purchasing maize this year, as it has been the tradition, meaning that the NCPB stores will remain shut for lack of activities. SFR board chairman Noah Wekesa said the prevailing price in the market does not necessitate setting of the price at the moment as that is the price that they would have wanted farmers to get. Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Andrew Tuimur said farmers are getting between Sh2,600 and Sh2,800 for a 90kg bag, which is considered to be a good price at this time of the year.

“This price when farmers are harvesting is actually good because it is very rare to get this much when harvesting is going on,” said Dr Tuimur.

Normally, farmers who take maize to NCPB have their grain dried at a fee to attain the required moisture content. The board charges Sh30 per bag for every drop of one percent of moisture in a bag. Maize is normally dried to 13.5 percent for each bag to avoid rotting and aflatoxin contamination.

Mr Kioko is concerned that the current weather will also increase cost of production on farmers as they will have to incur an extra cost in drying manually at their homes.

“For farmers to sell what they have harvested, their grain needs to attain the required moisture content so that it can be accepted by millers or traders,” he said.