Agriculture Principal Secretary Richard Lesiyampe during a past media briefing. [Photo/ nation.co.ke]
The Government on Thursday made a surprise U-turn; telling local maize producers to avail the harvest in their stores for the Agriculture ministry to buy at a higher price.
The Kenya Revenue Authority had three weeks ago opened a duty free maize importation window to enable Kenyans ship in the grain and close the domestic maize shortage gap.
Agriculture Principal Secretary Richard Lesiyampe said government currently grappling with an acute maize shortage will buy a 90-kilogram bag of locally produced maize at Sh3,600.
The PS said millers are getting a Sh1,300 subsidy per bag so that they can mill flour at Sh2,300 per bag.
The subsidy is meant to enable consumers buy maize flour at Sh90 per two-kilogram packet, down from over Sh145.
The ministry said there are presently 980,000 bags of maize in the country, enough to last for less than two weeks.
Kenya consumes three million bags of maize in one month with the country projected to receive at least five million bags between May and August.
Despite Tuesday’s government announcement that flour prices will fall down to Sh90 per two-kilogram packet following the importation of 330,000 bags of Mexican white maize, there is still an acute shortage of maize flour in the market.
Irrigation Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa on Wednesday said the maize imports will not hurt domestic market prices since they were meant to close the local shortage gap.
“As much as we remain sensitive to the shortage, to ensure that consumers are able to get food at affordable prices, we must also be careful not to flood the market so that local farmers are affected,” he said.
He said the country produces close to 38 million bags of maize, less than the 43 million bags Kenyans consume in one year.
“We will ensure the maize that is imported does not exceed six million bags that are needed,” he said at a funeral in Kiminini, Bungoma County.