Managing director Newton Terer said the board had as at the end of last week purchased 2.3 million bags from farmers, mainly in the North Rift.
The State is paying Sh3,200 for a 90-kilogramme bag of maize.
Millers are paying about Sh3,000 for the same quantity while middlemen are offering farmers as low as Sh2,000.
The National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) has purchased maize worth Sh4.6 billion, exceeding the initial target of two million bags.
Managing director Newton Terer said the board had as at the end of last week purchased 2.3 million bags from farmers, mainly in the North Rift.
The move came as a boost to the Strategic Food Reserve (SFR) following fears that the board could not get sufficient stocks to refill the stores as farmers were projected to hoard their produce on anticipation of higher prices in future.
“We have managed to buy 2.3 million bags of maize as at last week and we have so far paid growers Sh4.6 billion on the purchases,” said Mr Terer.
He said the government owes growers, who have supplied maize the board, Sh3 billion that would be cleared in due course. The State is paying Sh3,200 for a 90-kilogramme bag of maize.
Millers are paying about Sh3,000 for the same quantity while middlemen are offering farmers as low as Sh2,000.
The brokers take advantage of farmers who are unable to deliver their crop to NCPB depots for lack of transport.
About three million bags at the SFR were released to millers last year to ease the shortage in the country that saw the price of a two-kilogramme bag hit a high of Sh153.
This forced the government to start subsidising maize importers to help lower the cost of flour that had shot to a historic high in the aftermath of a prolonged drought in the first quarter of 2017.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
