Farmers urged to sell maize through NCPB

By Mark Kapchanga

Farmers in North Rift have been asked not to sell their maize at throwaway prices to brokers.

Eldoret North legislator William Ruto said middlemen were swindling farmers by buying their maize stocks cheaply.

"Farmers should take their maize to National Cereals and produce Board (NCPB) for storage and wait for better prices," he said.

He advised the farmers to not to sell their maize to the profit-hungry traders, arguing that the cost of production next year cannot be predicted with certainty.

For many decades, unscrupulous traders have been exploiting farmers by purchasing their produce at exploitative prices, exposing the country to perennial food shortages. Maize prices have dropped drastically due to increased supply from local farmers in the region. Despite NCPB having set its maize purchasing price at Sh3,000 per 90kg bag, the market price has dropped to Sh2,700 in Eldoret, Kitale – the country’s food baskets.

Latest report by the Famine Early Warning System shows that increasing supply of harvested maize from key growing areas coupled with cross-border inflows have resulted in a significant decline in maize prices.

The USAid-funded body says that prices are likely to drop by between five and 15 per cent.

"The most likely food security outcomes for last month through March next year are premised on the October–December short rains, which are likely to be near-normal in the western and northern half of the country and near-normal to above normal in the southern half," the report said.

Short rains

This year, the country expects to harvest more than 32 million bags. Out of this, 26 million bags are projected to come from the long rains.

"The remaining amount will depend on how good the ongoing short rains will be. This is because they have a huge impact on how much the country would produce in the February-March harvesting period," said Francis Karin, a maize researcher with Egerton University’s Tegemeo Institute.

Mr Ruto argued that the country can be food-secured if the cost of farm inputs are reduced and the Government extands subsidies to them.

"With robust extension services, farmers stand to gain and therefore enhance production."