In an intriguing debate on a local TV station, Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen took on Cherengany MP Joshua Kutuny to discuss the crisis in the maize sector.
The two men are no doubt familiar with the status of maize farmers, as both hail from the country’s breadbasket of the north Rift Valley. The crisis in the maize sector has affected thousands of farmers in the region.
Many are stuck with mountains of maize from last year even as this year’s harvest matures. Incidentally, farmers were unable to sell the crop last year yet most of the country grappled with drought and a huge maize shortage.
When the Government allowed duty-free grain imports to meet the shortage due to the 2017 drought, wheeler-dealers took advantage to import more than 10 million bags of maize.
Working in cahoots with insiders in the National Cereals and Produce Board, they subsequently jumped the queues to sell the surplus imports to the Strategic Grain Reserve.
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Farmers were left holding their harvest with nowhere to sell. Millers who ordinarily buy the excess harvest after the NCPB stops buying had imported more than enough to last the year.
The year 2017 being an election one, it was expected that the national staple would move to the centre-stage as producers and consumers jostled for pole position in the Government’s eye.
Maize cartels
With consumers outnumbering producers, it was natural that the Government bent over to the consumers to lower the cost of maize-flour.
The resulting deluge of imports well beyond the market needs is an indication of the power of faceless brokers who control just about every sector in the country.
In the end, both the producers and consumers suffer, as brokers take advantage of the situation to enrich themselves.
The import deluge ate into the tax income with the effect that both producers and consumers subsidised the excesses of the maize cartels.
As the two gentlemen debated, they tiptoed around the issue at hand, with Mr Kutuny keen on laying blame on Deputy President William Ruto and Mr Murkomen steadfastly defending him.
In the end the debate degenerated into a slugfest as each tried to smear the reputation of the other. Many Kenyans were left wondering who, between the two, truly represented the interests of farmers.
Herein lies the true weakness of the Kenyan agricultural sector – lack of effective farmers’ associations that represent interests of the sector.
That farmers must rely on politicians to front their case clearly shows they are in disarray. Politicians represent various interests, including those of importers and brokers, with an eye on international markets.
That means politicians always have an eye on the outside even when sitting in the middle of the room. Many of the positions they adopt publicly are intended for a given audience.
National levels
Sometimes it is mere posturing to buy time or to cover up their true intents. It is unfortunate that farmers continue to rely on politicians to advance their interests without the support of their own farmer-organisations.
This is akin to having politicians representing the interests of workers in negotiations with employers. There is no hiding the fact that employers would love negotiations with politicians than union representatives.
Workers can never allow politicians to usurp the role of the union except only to broker a truce between them and their employers when things come to a head.
With each profession having unique needs, the workers have gone ahead to segregate themselves into various groups with teachers, lecturers and others organising separately.
Therefore, before we start throwing blame at each other, we must help our farmers to organise themselves in truly representative platforms at the regional and national levels.
This will help them lobby for policies that favour production and marketing. In many cases farmers are left at the mercy of brokers who reap the most from their produce simply because they have no hand in the marketing channels they rely on.
Proper farmer associations can easily operate marketing channels, which would ensure price stability and production planning. They can also competitively source for inputs and technical advice.
We can start by breathing life into the Kenya Farmers Association.
Dr Kingi is the Deputy Governor, Mombasa County.
