Agriculture Cs Willy Bett with his Finance counterpart Henry Rotich [photo/nation.co.ke]
The government will start purchasing maize from farmers across the country at Sh3,200 per 90Kg bag as from next week.
The move is expected to stabilise maize flour price in the country, which had fluctuated at the beginning of the year.
The situation forced the government to subsidise the prices to Sh90 per packet of maize flour to counter hunger.
Speaking at Kilimo House, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett said that the latest assessment of the staple crop is showing better performance than anticipated.
“The ministry has revised the performance of the second season crop and it is projecting a long-term average of 40 million bags,” he said.
He said the government has allocated more funds to the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure better maize prices.
Bett added that the poor maize production in the country experienced in the previous year was attributed to fall army-worms that attacked maize crops in high potential areas and affected the cost of production.
The cabinet secretary praised President Uhuru's remarks during the Nairobi Trade Fair, that the government has set aside Sh6 billion to purchase maize from local farmers under the Strategic Food Reserve (SFR).
“The government will buy under the Strategic Food Reserve, all the maize offered for sale by our farmers during this 2017/18 season. For this purpose, we have programmed to spend Sh6 billion,” said the president.
The government will, however, maintain the subsidy maize program until the local maize market stabilises.