The move by the government to import 6.6 million bags of maize from Uganda was not welcomed by various leaders from the North Rift.
Moiben member of parliament, Silas Tiren, seemed to be against the idea of importing maize when millers still have a lot of maize in the stores.
Silas Tiren, on Wednesday 14th, expressed his disagreement on the move.Speaking to a local media house by means of phone, the MP, who is a member of Agriculture committee of the National Assembly argued that the government should have made sure they had cleared the stock from our farmers before importing from Uganda.
"We are urging the ministry or rather the cereals to consider the farmer because the farmer has nowhere else to go.You know very well in Kenya maize was imported the other day not so long ago and millers still have a lot of maize.On the matter of importing maize from Uganda I believe first and foremost they would have made sure that they have cleared all our stocks from the farmers to make sure that there is no more maize then we could be able to import, said Mr. Silas
Despite acknowledging the fact that the country is not producing enough,he was against the idea of importing maize yet there is still plenty in stores.
He instead urged the government to invest in research so they can deal with the armyworm threat that is affecting maize production.
He also advised the government to lower cost of input and avoid delayed payments to farmers so as to encourage them to produce more enough for the country.
"We would expect the ministry to add more money in terms of research and at the same time to add more money to be able to deal with armyworm," the Moiben MP said.