Deputy President William Ruto has told off local leaders in the North Rift leaders that have been campaigning against his calls for crop diversification.
Ruto said those opposed to diversification calls were misleading farmers to stick to the unprofitable model of cropping.
Speaking on Friday in Kesses during the burial of former presidential escort, Leonard Yator, DP Ruto broke his silence over the matter ridiculing his detractors of politicizing agricultural farming instead encouraging locals to grow crops that will earn them profits other than maize.
“You get other leaders here gathering people, telling them that they should not resist growing maize because it is meant for ugali, is your mind obsessed with ugali alone? You should urge locals to grow other crops,” Dr Ruto speaking in vernacular said at the burial that was also attended by local leaders including Governor Jackson Mandago, Dr Swarup Mishara, Kesses MP and his Soy counterpart Caleb Kositany among others.
He emphasized the need for farmers to grow other crops like avocado so as to avoid loses that have perennially bedevilled maize growing due to poor market and administrative malpractices in the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB).
Diversification call has been met with resistance from a section of local leaders including Alfred Keter (Nandi Hills), Silas Tiren (Moiben) and Joshua Kutuny (Cherang’any) legislators.
The three rebel Jubilee MPs have in the past insisted that the national government should support the maize farmers by buying maize at Sh3,600 per 90-kilogram bag and streamline the NCPB management to curb corruption.
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