Food crisis was planned from last year, says former Agriculture Minister

Kipruto arap kirwa

Recent importation of maize continues to raise eyebrows, with former Agriculture Minister Kipruto Kirwa claiming it is a mega scandal hatched one year ago.

Mr Kirwa, a minister in Kibaki’s first Cabinet, said Jubilee leaders meticulously planned the events that precipitated the current food crisis by presiding over mismanagement of maize production.

In an interview with Sunday Standard, Kirwa cited the poor quality fertiliser supplied in April 2016 to meagre allocation of funds to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) and the sale of Kenyan maize across the border as part of the scheme that ensured a shortage of the basic commodity.

“The purported importation of maize from Mexico was the culmination of well laid out plans to create a food crisis in the country. The plan involved brokers and senior government operatives,” said Kirwa.

Last week, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett received the first consignment of 30,000 metric tonnes in an event that continues to raise more questions than answers.

Kirwa is now demanding that the Government comes clean on the transactions involved in the procurement of the subsidised maize.

“This could be the making of a major scandal hatched right from last year, with the pretext of a shortage of the commodity. The government failed to buy enough stock for the Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR) to occasion the shortage and justify the importation,” he said.

“Why was the subsidy not extended to farmers at the point of production? We are now glorifying the Mexican farmer as we expose ours,” said Kirwa.

The former minister, who is now eyeing the Trans Nzoia Senate seat, said the government introduced new parameters last year that deliberately frustrated maize farmers, including the 13 per cent rule that led to losses by farmers who delivered produce to NCPB stores across the country.

“If you deliver 100 bags, you lose close to 10 bags to moisture content and another three bags for discolouration, breakages and bad maize. The farmers were fleeced,” said Kirwa.

More loses were occasioned by the delayed opening of the silos, which led to millions of shillings in post-harvest losses.

He said the farmers in the maize planting regions were given fertiliser meant for top dressing of tea crop, leading to yellowing of maize and eventual poor harvests.

NCPB, he said, also introduced parameters that discouraged farmers from selling maize to the board.

He said the Kibaki administration increased the SGR to eight million bags from two million to ensure food security.

The NCPB, Kirwa said, has the capacity to hold 20 million bags of maize at any given time.

“Sadly, the board only bought 800,000 bags last year that brought the total number of maize at the stores to about two million,” he said.