Rongai Member of Parliament Raymond Moi has called on the government to protect wheat farmers in the country by totally banning the importation of cheap wheat.
Speaking in Nakuru, at the Rift Valley Institute of Science and Technology, Moi lamented that the continued importation of cheap wheat into the country is slowly killing the wheat sector in the Rift Valley.
He said local farmers stand to lose if cheap wheat is allowed into the country.
“The wheat that is coming into the country is cheap compared to our own wheat and this is because it is coming from countries where wheat farmers are given subsidies by their governments and that lowers the cost of production,” said Moi
“The government should totally ban the importation of wheat into the country as a way of saving our wheat farmers and preventing the sector from collapsing,” he said
He said farmers in the country have expressed fears that production might decline if importation of wheat is allowed to continue.
He called on the government to offer subsidies to wheat farmers like it is done in Asian and European countries.
”we have the potential of producing enough wheat to feed our people and even export but that can only happen when the government steps in and subsidizes farmers,” said Moi.