County governments have been challenged to set up their own grain reserves as one way of cushioning their residents against hunger, as well as enhancing food security in their counties.
Speaking in Naivasha town on Thursday, Agriculture cabinet secretary, Felix Koskei said that county governments are ‘small’ governments, and they should stop relying on the national grain reserves.
He said the national silos should be used as a mere boost to what the county governments have in their stores.
“County governments have their own systems and they should come up with county grain reserves because they have money and they can buy grains from framers directly or even import. If we can have a grain reserve in each county, then this issue of food shortage will be a thing of the past,” said Koskei.
Koskei said that this will also help in cushioning farmers from exploitation, as the county governments will offer them a god price for their grains.
“A county government can decide to set a price at which it will buy grains at from farmers in that county, and this will boost the farmers’ morale,” he said.
The CS called on county governments to come up with good legislation, which will boost the production of food in counties.