Maize farmers from Uasin Gishu County will have to wait longer for the price at which the cereals board will buy their maize.
Trustees managing the strategic grain reserves are yet to decide on the price and this comes at a time when imports are flooding the market. Also, middlemen are capitalising on the National Cereals and Produce Board’s (NCPB) delay in buying the grains hence offering prices of as low as Sh 1,000 per 90-kilogramme bag.
Most farmers are blaming the NCPB for the delay buying their produce which they harvested in October and they are required to keep it at 13.5 per cent moisture content and also meet the huge costs of open field drying and transportation.
Uasin Gishu Deputy Governor Daniel Chemno said that the strategic grain reserve trustees are the only ones with the right to decide on the prices and when the purchases will start and urged the farmers to wait until the right decision is made.
He said that though the middlemen and millers are currently offering Sh 1,000 per 90-kilogramme bag of maize which is supposed to be sold at Sh 2,300 the board of trustees will be meeting soon to discuss the issue.
“I would like to urge maize farmers to be patient since the issue will be solved one and for all. I am aware that local traders have imported close to 2 million bags of maize from Tanzania and Uganda but I assure you the board will come out with the right prices for your produce,” he said.