Wheat farmers in Uasin Gishu County have expressed opposition to a 10 per cent duty-free market deal by the government to millers for the importation of wheat.
The farmers said the move is discouraging and a clear indication that the government does not value them.
Speaking on Monday in Eldoret town, the farmers led by Moiben Member of Parliament Silas Tiren said the government which should protect them from imports is exposing the local market by reaching the duty-free deal.
The Jubilee MP also said that the move by the government to import wheat is ironic since it delays in paying farmers for delivered products and is now planning to import more wheat from other countries.
“Why should the government allow wheat to be imported from Tanzania, a country that bans all importations from Kenya, for a period of one year?” asked Tiren.
He also expressed concerns and cautioned that government was slowly killing the agricultural sector in the country by encouraging the importation of certain products into the country.
“The government is now giving millers a 10 per cent duty-free therefore allowing importation of wheat while our wheat farmers have not yet been paid,” he added.
Kolum Kimutai a local wheat farmer on his part said that there was no need in growing wheat anymore if the government cannot protect them from importation.
"Farmers are suffering because some cartels are colluding with some officials in the Ministry of Agriculture to import the grain,' he said.
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