Agriculture PS says there is no reason for the processors to increase prices only a month after harvest

The Government will this morning meet private millers to discuss the current increase in maize flour prices. Agriculture Principal Secretary Sicily Kariuki confirmed that a meeting is scheduled this morning between senior officials from the ministry and private millers to find an amicable solution to the increase which is already causing concern among consumers.

“We held the first discussions last Friday with one group of millers and we intend to conclude the talks this morning with a view to finding a solution and thus stabilise prices of the maize flour,” said Ms Kariuki in a phone interview.

She argued that the maize flour price increase is not justifiable since the country still has large amounts of maize from the last season’s crop, which has kept costs low since late last year. As at the end of last month, the country had in its strategic grain reserves 4.3 million bags of maize.

Further, Kariuki said information by officers on the ground indicates traders and farmers are holding more maize, thus raising questions as to why millers have raised maize flour prices. “There is no reason for the millers to increase the price of flour while the country is just about one month after completion of main harvest.

“However, we will resolve the issue when we meet with the millers this morning,” she added. The millers  argued that speculation has led to decline of maize supplies in the market, which has seen the cost of maize go up by 27 per cent.

As at end of last week,  a two-kilogramme packet of Jogoo maize flour sold at Sh107 from Sh97. A 2kg packet of Soko flour was sold at between Sh102 and Sh104. Other players in the market also query the increase since “a lot of maize continues to flow into the country from the neighbouring countries, for example Tanzania and Uganda.”

Procure fertiliser

Meanwhile, Farmers will in future procure fertiliser at reduced prices, thanks to an electronic subsidy system to be launched next month by the government and the private sector. Under the system, farmers will also be cushioned against price fluctuations. Ms Kariuki said the initiative would first be rolled out on a pilot basis in Nandi, Narok and Bungoma counties, starting early in the month.

“Our aim is to implement a fertiliser price stabilisation plan aimed at influencing prices and cushioning farmers from price fluctuations across the season by making fertiliser affordable to farmers,” she said.

The system that envisages to improve distribution and management of subsidised fertiliser will require agro-dealers and farmers to register electronically, after which the latter would be linked to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB). Then eligible farmers will thus access their fertiliser from these agro-dealers.

The PS said the system is designed to give information on agro-dealers, available stock, fertiliser price and mode of payment by the farmer while the report on beneficiaries and quantities of fertiliser distributed will be generated as and when required.

Under the digital system, Kariuki explained that farmers would be vetted and their details fed into a database before being issued with a unique code to access the commodity.

Text message

“Once details have been captured, growers will receive a text message from the service provider confirming registration details, agro-dealers participating in their locality and availability of fertiliser,” she added.

Kariuki said the system, once fully implemented, would ease realisation of the Government’s objective of procuring about 30 per cent of the country’s fertilizer requirements and sell to farmers at subsidised prices.

The system will allow direct procurement of fertiliser from the private sector as opposed to the present system where the Government is involved in procurement.

The platform has payment features to enable announcement of prices for participating fertiliser suppliers at the beginning of every season.